From Darkness Comes Light
by patattack
Summary: A young man with great elemental powers of unknown origins joins the Titans and has many adventures with them. OCxRaven. Some crossover with Bleach. "The Titans recover from a night of brutal fights, but discover another enemy just before going home."
1. A Familiar Place Indeed

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or any of the characters that appear in the show. However, I do own my OC character, who's name will be revealed in a later chapter.

About the disclaimer, as simple as it seems now, I'll get more creative later. Just felt like saying that.

Onto more serious stuff. I had the idea to make a Teen Titans fic for a while and decided that now was a good time to start. I pretty much pictured myself in the titan's world and made up a character based on that. This story begins sometime before Terra betrays her friends. It'll become more obvious when I get to the chapters made around the actual episodes. I actually have three other fics (one of them I'm not working on because I don't have any material with me), so updates will probably be slower than I'd like. I have too many ideas in my head for different stories, but I decided to get to this anyway. Enough with that, please enjoy.

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**A Familiar Place Indeed**

It was late in the evening in Jump City. A time when most people we're in their homes, or working night time jobs. The odd passer by stepped on the sidewalk, most trying to get to their destination without spending too much time outside. However, this evening in particular was destined to mark the beginning of a series of events that would cause unrest for some, anger for others and different other sorts of emotions. But however the people affected would react, the starting link was arriving, unaware of exactly what would happen, but not unknowing that something would.

Just on the edge of the town limits, a lone figure was walking by themselves. This person was what many people might consider as odd. Not only because of their apparel, which in the dimmed light, could only be identified as a dark cloak covering them entirely, hiding their face so as to only reveal a pair of glowing eyes. Strangely enough, these eyes were a golden color, not something that most people could boast of having. If one was close enough, they'd be able to see that this person's eyes showed tiredness. Whether from travelling, or simply from needing to sleep.

Though they we're feeling undoubtedly tired, they were alert to their surroundings. Spotting things that the average person would not, thanks to their sharp senses. Little else could be said of the appearance of this person who would cause the string of events, as the lack of light combined with their dark cloak covered them well.

They looked at the buildings outlining the great city with a sense of familiarity. Then they spared a glance for the 'T' shaped building on an island a short distance away from the mainland that they failed to recognize from any of their memories. But they set it aside as something that had simply happened during their absence from this place. The dark person looked at the city for a while, before letting out a small sigh. "Hello Jump City," they spoke softly to themselves. As if saying it louder would draw unwanted attention. "It certainly has been a while."

* * *

The dark person could now be seen on the sidewalks of the streets of Jump City. Walking at a moderate pace, keeping mostly in the shadows, but occasionally passing under a lamp's light, showing their cloak to be pitch black. They also wore a pair of used brown gloves and equally used grey sneakers. Their cloak flapped a little, revealing that they wore a simple long sleeved dark green shirt tucked into a pair of pants of the same color. Like the rest of their apparel, the shirt and pants were worn and used, even if still in a condition acceptable for them. They walked for a while, no destination in particular, except for a place where they could find sleep and perhaps food.

An opportunity to satisfy his second need presented itself first. In the form of a small convenience store, still open despite the late hour. As strong as their desire to avoid interacting with people was, the desire to eat something was more pressing. They made their way to this place and walked through the door. The only individual present, apart from themselves, was a young man sitting behind the counter that was positioned in the corner opposite the door. He wore a red t-shirt, had brown hair that fell to their shoulders, blue eyes and a bored look on his face. He looked up from reading a magazine upon hearing the sound of the dark person entering the store. His eyebrows frowned at seeing the way they were dressed. He eyed the person with a suspicious look as they made their way to the refrigerated section. "You better have money to pay for whatever you take," they warned them.

The cloaked person let out a sigh as they heard the employee speak. They proceeded to take out a sandwich and went to the counter to pay for it. They placed it in front of the young man and took a battered wallet out of their pocket. The store's employee's eyes widened momentarily as they saw the customer's golden eyes. They soon regained their previous guarded look. "Is this all?" he asked.

"Yes," was the reply that came back. If one was intelligent enough, they would be able to deduce through hearing this word that the voice that had pronounced it belonged to a boy. Although, short of possessing powers of some sort, anyone would be hard pressed to know more about this boy.

"It'll cost you 3.50$. Pay up," they said.

'Trust is in the air,' the boy thought sarcastically. 'But why am I not surprised? It's not like anyone will trust a person like me. Especially if they knew what I looked like, or what I can do.' Repressing another sigh, he opened up his wallet to pay for his meal. Almost grimacing at his nearly depleted finances, he took out a five dollar bill and placed in on the counter.

The man managing the store picked it up and looked at it with distrust, as if he suspected it of being fake. As he was examining it, the door burst open and two men came in. The dark boy spun in their direction in a flash, though still keeping himself covered. The newest people to arrive wore black clothes, black ski masks covering their faces and each held a pistol in their hands. "Don't move," the one on the left shouted to the man behind the counter.

"You there, get down and stay down," the other shouted to the cloaked boy. He didn't move an inch, choosing instead to stare at the robbers with a cold look in his eyes. "What the fuck!? I told you to get down boy! Do it now or we'll shoot." To emphasize his point, he pointed his gun straight at him and armed it. The other man followed his example.

Taking advantage of their distraction, the manager ducked out of sight underneath the counter. The robbers waited all of about two seconds, before realizing that the boy in front of them would not be cooperating. Wanting to waste as little time as possible, they both pulled on the triggers of their firearms. Yet, as this happened, a transparent barrier surrounded the boy faster than the blink of an eye. The bullets impacted the shield and dropped to the floor. The cloaked boy simply watched as the two men futilely emptied their guns at him, not moving in the slightest. When their weapons clicked to signify that they were out of ammunition, the robbers stared at the boy in shock. The barrier dissipated and he opened his mouth to say two words. "My turn."

To the cloaked boy, the fear in the two men's eyes was evident. They each took a step back and were about to bolt out the door, when the decision was made for them. A gust of wind kicked up and blew in the direction of the intruders. The door almost flew off its hinges from the strength it was hit with. The wind slammed into the masked men, sending them flying out the now wide open door and into the middle of the street. Never taking his eyes off of them during their flight, the boy walked out so that he stood on the edge of the sidewalk. The two men scrambled to get up and away from the one responsible for foiling their plan to rob the store. They managed to get to their feet and were about to run off, but suddenly they felt themselves unable to move anything more than their heads. "What are you?" one of them asked.

The boy simply ignored the question. Instead, he looked around to see if there would be anything he'd be able to use for tying up the criminals. He then noticed the canvas over the entrance of the store they'd attempted to rob. He concentrated the slightest bit and a smaller gust of wind then the previous one sliced across the canvas like a knife. The boy grabbed it in his hands as the two thieves were carried next to a lamp post by another gust of wind. He then proceeded to tie them to the lamp post just tightly enough so that they would be unable to get away until law enforcement arrived. When it was finished, the two men could feel the air around them loosen. The teenager heard the sound of an approaching vehicle in the distance. Decided to avoid further contact with anyone else, he turned around to pick up his sandwich and leave. The door had not yet closed from its impromptu opening. He quickly spotted the item he sought and not caring about getting his change as much as getting away, he raised an arm and caught the sandwich that flew to him on a small breeze. Then the boy half walked, half ran into an alleyway opposite the store, fading out of sight into the shadows.

* * *

Cyborg was in a good mood at the present moment. He was driving in the T-Car, coming back from a late night movie that he'd gone to see by himself, his friends having had different reasons for staying at the tower. The movie was about an alien invasion of earth, with the humans being beaten for a while, but predictably enough managing to end as the victors. Despite it being what Raven would refer to as 'stupid', 'pointless', or something else like that, Cyborg had still enjoyed it. Cruising along the road towards the tower, he was interrupted from his thoughts when a panel on the dashboard started to beep. He pressed a button and it showed him the location that a silent alarm had been activated. Noticing that he wasn't far from it, the robotic teen decided to head over himself and call his teammates if he needed to. The T-Car sped forward as he pressed on the gas pedal. Shortly after, he arrived on the street that the place was where the scanner had picked up the silent alarm. When he stopped in front of the convenience store and got out, Cyborg shifted his arm into his sonic cannon, expecting to see criminals in the process of robbing it.

What he hadn't counted on, was seeing two men in black, with ski masks on their heads, tied to a lamp post. "Ooookay. Guess somebody got to it before me," he said to himself. Shifting his arm back to normal, he entered the store, but not before taking the time to put the door back in its place. "Hello, anyone in here?" The young man behind the counter dared to peek over the edge and seeing the titan, decided that it was safe to stand up. "I just picked up on your silent alarm," he explained. "Mind telling me what happened here?"

"Umm, truth be known, I can't say all the details," he admitted. "Some person in a black cloak came in here a short while ago. He went to pay for a sandwich when two men came in here with guns. They told him to get down, but I ducked underneath the counter and pressed the alarm. I heard shooting, someone saying 'my turn' and then what sounded like something blowing through the place. That's all."

The teenage half machine thought about the situation, when he took notice of the security camera on the ceiling. "Mind if I check the camera's tape?" he asked.

"Sure, just let me get that for you." The employee went around the counter and showed Cyborg into a room with a television recording the store. He picked up the remote and rewound the security footage until it reached a spot a few minutes ago. Cyborg watched as it showed the black cloaked person entering the store. The first things that came to his mind, was that this person looked very much like Raven. As the tape continued, he saw them walk to the counter and spin around with what Cyborg would have to admit were sharp reflexes. He saw the two robbers point their guns at the cloaked figure and the barrier that shielded them from harm.

"Stop there," he said to them. They did as requested and then rewound the recording to the exact spot he'd pointed to. Cyborg's suspicions of this person being Raven were pushed aside upon seeing this particular scene. Having been around the young sorceress for as long as he had, it was easy for him to recognize that her powers were black instead of transparent. He signified for the tape to be continued. He was as intrigued by the blast of power that sent the two criminals flying out the store as he'd been by the shield the dark person had conjured. "I need to take this with me back to Titan's Tower to examine," Cyborg said as the last trace of the black cloaked person disappeared.

"Yes, yes, of course," they said as they took out the requested item and passed it to him.

"Right, you should call the cops to have em pick up the two guys tied to the lamp post outside." They simply nodded. "Bye then." Cyborg walked out to interrogate the two robbers. "What can you tell me about the person with the black cloak," he asked in a no-nonsense voice.

"We just got in and they made up some impenetrable shield, then blasted the both of us out of the place. We tried to get away, but we were couldn't move, then he tied us up here before he ran off into that alley," one of them explained franticly.

"Good of you to be this cooperative. Have a nice trip to jail," then he went back to the T-Car and continued on his way to Titan's Tower. As he drove, he picked up his communicator and called Robin.

The Boy Wonder answered almost instantly. "Hey Cyborg! What's going on?" He had a relieved expression on his face, as is he'd been looking for an excuse to get away from something.

"You sure look happy to see me," he commented.

"Yeah, about that, Starfire just made some sort of pie from Tamaran and regrettably I had to pick up my communicator when it rung." Cyborg nodded in agreement. He assumed that Robin's way of speaking would be because of the alien teen being nearby and his unwillingness to speak truthfully about what he thought of her cooking in her presence. "Anyway, what's with the call?"

"I picked up a silent alarm coming from a convenience store with the T-Car's scanner. Except when I got there, someone else had stopped the two guys robbing the place already. I asked the clerk behind the counter a couple questions and he showed me the security camera's recording. I'm on my way back and I think you'll all be interested to see it as well. Especially Raven."

"Greetings friend Cyborg!" Starfire's smiling face showed itself on the communicator's screen. "How was the mooovie? Did you have a pleasant end of the day by yourself?"

"Yeah I guess so. I'm just coming back now. Don't mean to be rube or anything, but can you put Robin back on? I mean give Robin his communicator back?" He hastily corrected himself before her misunderstandings could cause any harm to come to the team leader.

"Very well, I shall await your return with great impatience." Robin's face reappeared on the screen.

"I'll be back in a few minutes. Try to get everyone to come to the main room, if they aren't there already. You all need to see what I've got."

"Right then. Later Cyborg."

"Be there in a flash."

* * *

The cloaked boy had by now stopped in the midst of a darkened alleyway. Certain that no one would come and disturb him, but remaining alert in case someone did, he sat down to eat his meagre meal. He tore open the packaging and took a bite. "Ham and cheese," they said to themselves. "Better then what I've had in the last while." A couple of mouthfuls later, he heard the sounds of feet coming in his direction. Keeping his cloak wrapped around himself, he could barely be seen by anyone, unless they came too close. As it turned out, there was nothing for him to worry about, as the sounds he'd heard belonged to a young girl about ten years old he estimated. He watched in silence as she opened the lid of a trash can and riffled through, presumably for something to eat. Looking at his half eaten sandwich, then at the girl, he got up and walked next to her. "Hungry?" he asked her.

She let out a small 'eep', but did not run away from him. "Yeah," came her reply. "What's it to you?"

He passed her the remains of the food he'd bought. "Here, this might taste better then whatever you find in there," he indicated the trash can. She grabbed the offering and deciding to throw caution to the wind, swallowed the whole thing in a few bites.

"Thanks," she said as she finished eating.

"You're welcome." The girl then proceeded to wander off somewhere else, while the boy went his own way in an attempt to find someplace to sleep. He walked about for a minute, when he found an old beaten up mattress lying in front of a dumpster. Feeling no need to seek further comforts than such, he picked it up and dragged it into a secluded corner and then lied down on it, falling asleep soon after.

* * *

The six Titans, minus Cyborg, were all in the tower's main room, waiting for his return so they could see what he wanted to show them. Beast Boy and Robin were sitting on the couch, playing a racing video game. Though not quite the same level of competition as when the shape shifter played with the half machine, it was still quite heated. Raven was sitting by herself, reading one of the many books she owned and at the same time, generally paying no attention to anything else. Starfire was standing behind Robin, watching the two boys competing against each other. As for Terra, she was doing the same as Starfire, but while sitting on the couch beside Beast Boy. "You go Beasty Boo," she encouraged.

Noticing his distraction, Robin took advantage of it and sent his vehicle beside his friend's. Then he commanded it to slam into the side of Beast Boy's, sending it careening off track, allowing him to claim the victory. "Huh? Wha? How?" The green teen asked, stunned at his loss.

The Boy Wonder simply gave him a self assured smirk. "It's your own fault for not paying attention."

"No fair, I want a rematch," he replied.

As if fate itself had decided that Beast Boy had suffered enough of a defeat for the time being, Cyborg chose that moment to enter the main room. "Hi yall. How's it going?" he greeted them joyously.

"Hey Cyborg."

"Greetings friend."

"Hi Cyborg."

"Nice of you to drop by, I was just about to beat Robin this time."

Cyborg laughed at his friend's words. "Dude, you couldn't beat him if he was blindfolded, or me for that matter." The green changeling's jaw dropped at the insult. "But it'll have to wait. I've got the security tape from the convenience store. You all need to see this. Meaning you too, Raven." The sorceress closed the book she was reading, placed it on the counter and walked over to the rest of her team mates.

"This had better be important," she said in her usual monotonous voice. "I was reading a good book."

The Titans all gathered, he went to a console on the wall and inserted the tape into the appropriate slot. He then typed a few touches on the keyboard and the television screen came to life as it showed the recording from before Cyborg had arrived. They watched in silence, until he froze it at the moment the black cloaked person entered. Robin, Terra, Starfire and Beast Boy all turned their attention toward Raven. She failed to notice this as her attention was fixed on the image in front of her. "Is that...?" Beast Boy dared to ask.

"I've been in the tower the whole evening," Raven said flatly. "There are a lot of things I can do, but being in two places at once isn't one of them. Besides, in case you didn't notice, my cloak is blue. Theirs is black."

"Oh… right."

"Can you get a closer look at this person?" Robin asked.

"I can try, but with them covered like that, you won't be able to see much more than you can now."

"Just do what you can."

Cyborg then proceeded to further type at the keyboard, in an attempt to know more of this mysterious individual. The screen zoomed in to show the person's face, safe that it was hidden in their cloak's hood. One thing that they were able to see, was that their eyes were golden. "Whoa!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "That's not something you see every day."

"I'd say," Terra agreed.

"So would I," Starfire said.

"This is the best you can do?" Robin asked Cyborg.

"Fraid so. Doesn't get any better than that."

"Can you move it on?" The image returned to normal and the recording continued at Cyborg's command. They saw as the cloaked person walked around the store and to the counter. Robin looked with interest as he saw their reaction to the two robbers. Then came the instant where the bullets were stopped dead in their tracks, followed by them being blown out by a blast of power than clearly originated from the cloaked individual. By now, all of them, with the exception of Cyborg who had already seen it, were looking attentively at the television screen. The footage was cut when there remained nothing to be seen of the mysterious person.

The six titans sat in silence, contemplating what they'd seen. Then Robin deemed it appropriate to speak up. "Anything else you can tell us about this person Cyborg?"

"Sorry, but I only got there after they'd left. The guy behind the counter didn't see enough to help and the only thing the two crooks said the camera didn't show, was that he somehow froze them in place after blasting them outside."

"I see. Anyone have an opinion on the matter?" Robin asked in a serious tone.

"I don't know. This person, whoever they are, seems to be a good guy," Cyborg said.

"Although, they act pretty secretively and manage to keep everything of themselves covered except for their eyes," Raven stated.

"Which happen to be a color that not many people have," Terra added.

"Maybe they have some horrible deformation and don't want anyone to see it," Beast Boy suggested.

"Ooh, deformation. You sure expanded your vocabulary."

"Yeah, so, why is that surprising?" he replied to Raven's comment.

"Back to the subject please," Robin interceded. "Anyone have something else to say about it?"

"I believe that this individual may be one of good nature," Starfire said. "But as we know little of them now, perhaps it would be best to wait until we can better judge them."

"Fine," Robin replied. "We don't know yet if this person's good or bad, so we'll wait. Let's just keep an eye out for them in case we see them again. Ok?" No one disagreed with him. "Good, you can all go back to doing whatever you want. Beast Boy, I believe you said something about a rematch?"

"Oh yeah! "Oh yeah! Mind if I join in fellas? I wanna be part of the action when Beast Boy gets his butt kicked, again," Cyborg taunted.

"You just wait and see. I'll win for sure this time."

"Keep on dreaming," Robin said. The three boys started up the game station and were soon absorbed in the game. Starfire dragged Terra to her room, wishing to engage in the 'girl talk' with the geomancer.

Raven went back to her book in an attempt to continue reading, but the noise coming from the video game competitors kept breaking her concentration. Deciding that she needed time by herself, Raven closed her book and walked back to her own room. When she arrived, she sat down on her bed and tried reading more. Fate seemed to be opposed to the idea of the young teenager doing such a thing, as thoughts of the dark person from the security recording kept intruding in her mind. "Just who are you?" she asked herself.

* * *

Thank you to anyone who took the time to read this and I hope it was to your liking. If you don't mind leaving a review saying what you thought of this debut, please do so.


	2. A Normal Day for Some

Disclaimer: If I owned the Teen Titans I would've remade it to include my own character.

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**A Normal Day for Some**

The sun began to rise over Jump City. At this time, people and cars were starting to be seen with a bit more frequency on the streets. In the alleyways, a young man was sleeping by himself on an old beaten up mattress that he'd found on the ground. Despite it being in his nature to rise earlier than now, his journey from the previous night had left him tired more than usual. His eyes fluttered open as the sunlight just barely made it to him. He still wore his cloak in a manner that it covered his face entirely. Having had enough sleep, he stood up and stretched out his limbs. He looked around himself, taking in his surroundings. He began to walk away from where he had slept, in order to find some food.

As he made his way through the alleyways, he happened to hear a plea for help. With his sharp hearing, he could discern that it was a woman and that she was being pursued by another individual. Putting all thoughts of food aside, he quickly went in the direction of the sound. When he got near the mouth of the alley, he saw a young woman of about his own age backed against a wall by a burly menacing man. Keeping himself covered, he stepped between the two. He crossed his arms and stared at the man with a look of ice.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing pal?" Though trying to act tough, the man wasn't entirely at ease with the cloaked boy's eyes and the look he was giving him.

"Get lost," the boy said coldly while continuing to stare down the man.

"Listen here now, she's mine and you can't do a thing about it. If you back off, nobody's gonna get hurt. So scram!"

"Leave her alone, or somebody might actually get hurt." His tone left nothing out as to who would be hurt if he didn't leave.

The man picked up a piece of pipe, holding it in an attempt to scare the boy away. He advanced towards him and the girl behind him, but as soon as he took the first step, he found himself completely paralyzed in mid air, unable to move the slightest bit despite struggling with all his might. The boy walked in an unconcerned manner towards the frozen man. He plucked the pipe out of his fist and tossed it aside. He walked away from him, almost as if he was going to leave him in his current state, but then he turned around to address a few words to him. "Don't do this again," he said in a serious voice. "I won't be as gentle next time." At that, the man felt his body become free again. Not wanting to stay around the dark boy any longer then was absolutely necessary, he immediately ran away from them.

The boy turned to the young woman who was looking at him with a mix of awe, gratefulness and uncertainty. "You okay?" he asked in a voice that was a little warmer than before. The girl simply nodded. "I'm not going to hurt you," he attempted to reassure her.

"I-I… Thank you for saving me," she stuttered. She walked up to him and hesitated for a second before deciding what to say next. "Can I… could I just see your face? So I can know who you are?" She was uneasy upon seeing his golden eyes.

"I'm sorry, but no. People don't have a tendency to react too well when they see what I really look like."

"Ok then. Well, thanks again." The boy nodded to her and she walked away.

His stomach then decided to let him know that he was hungry and required food. He looked in the direction of the alley's entrance and spotted a piece of paper sticking out from underneath a couple of garbage bags. Fortune must have been smiling at him, he thought, as it turned out to be a hundred dollar bill. He picked it up and placed it in his wallet. His stomach churned at the thought of food he'd be able to buy. He then pulled his cloak completely around himself and went out into the streets.

* * *

Inside Titan's Tower, its inhabitants were beginning to get out of bed, with the exception of Beast Boy who was snoring away. Raven had been the first to have left her room. She was currently dressed in her black leotard and blue cloak and was sitting on the couch, enjoying the peaceful quiet while drinking a cup of herbal tea. Thoughts of the mysterious black cloaked person occasionally crossed her mind. She went over the small details about him that she already knew, though it wasn't enough to come to much of a conclusion. 'His voice belongs to a boy, it looks like he'd be about my age, he wears dark clothing and hides almost all of himself. He has a strong power within him, he hardly talks, he's not easily intimidated and he displays little emotions.' Raven sighed. Despite her talents for deduction, she'd hardly have a chance of finding out more of him without at the least seeing him closer.

Raven sensed Terra coming before she entered. "Morning Raven," she said cheerfully.

The young sorceress turned her head back and gave a simple greeting. "Hey."

The geomancer was followed by Robin and Starfire. "Morning," their leader said.

"Good morning to everyone. Is it not just the most beautiful day ever?" Starfire spoke in her usual overly cheerful and happy voice.

"Umm, I guess so." Terra looked outside the window at the sun which now dispelled the last traces of the nighttime darkness. They could predict that the day would most likely be an ordinary one as far as the weather went.

The four titans now gathered were then joined by the tower's resident half man-half machine. "Morning yall," he greeted them in a booming voice. His friends all acknowledged him in their own manner. "So, who wants breakfast? We should have enough time before Beast Boy gets out of bed." Cyborg went to the kitchen area, donning a chef's hat and apron before getting to work. The others gathered near and sat down, along with Raven. "Let's see here," Cyborg mumbled as he looked in the fridge. As he did so, his attention was caught by a pie plate with what looked like blue mold. He reached to take it out, but when he grabbed it, the substance jumped out of the fridge and on the floor. Cyborg raised his foot and brought it down on the moving pile, thus crushing it and causing it to break apart. "Umm Starfire? Did you put some blue thing in the fridge?"

"Oh yes. Last night I made a Tachamakrish Pie and placed in the refrigerator so that it could be conserved to be eaten later."

"Ohhhh. That explains a lot then." He proceeded to pick up the offending substance and dispose of it. Having cleared the fridge of all alien food, he took out the required ingredients for making waffles and started to work on them. Shortly afterwards, he laid out a stack of them in front of his friends. "Eat up everyone." Cyborg and Starfire ate theirs with large bites, while the others consumed their own a little slower.

Eventually Beast Boy made his appearance in the main room. "Hey guys." He walked to the kitchen and began making tofu waffles for himself. Surprisingly, Cyborg made no comment about such, though perhaps because he was too occupied by eating.

Unfortunately, it did not last. As soon as the green titan had sat down, Cyborg had noticed what he had on his plate and failed to refrain from poking at him. "What kind of junk are you eating BB? You otta have something real, not that… stuff."

"What's wrong with this? It's way better than what you're eating," he replied.

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is too."

"Is not." Cyborg laughed at how easily he had tricked his friend. "I didn't mean that. I wanted to say is too."

"Beast Boy, Cyborg, just quit it and eat," Robin interceded.

"Soo, what's happening today?" the changeling asked as he took a bite of his waffles.

"Combat practice is starting in half an hour at the training grounds," Robin said. "Then we're free. As for the rest of the day, it'll depend if anything comes up."

* * *

The cloaked boy made his way through the streets, searching for a place to get food with the money he'd found. As much as he disliked the idea of being in public, his hunger demanded that he suffer through such in order to find a place to get food. Fortunately for him, only a few people really paid attention to him and his apparel and he walked away from them before they could enter into contact with him. He continued on in this manner until he reached a small darkened café that was open. His attention having been caught by this place, he decided to check it out. When he entered, he could only see a waitress, but he could hear the sounds of someone in the kitchen. "Good day. Please be seated." The waitress was dressed in a gothic look and didn't seem phased by the cloaked boy's clothing.

He sat down in a shadowed section where he would be able to look at the door and through the window. He kept his hood around his head and his gloves on his hands. The waitress raised an eyebrow at his behavior, but did nothing more than that. She gave him a menu, waiting for him to place an order as he was the only customer present. He briefly looked at his options and chose something that would satisfy his hunger but not cost him too much money. She went to the kitchen and brought him a glass of water. He nodded to her and she walked back to the kitchen. A short moment afterwards, she placed his food in front of him. "Thanks," he muttered. The boy ate his meal in silence, enjoying the feeling of having a satisfied stomach.

He finished soon and walked up to the cash register where he passed the waitress the hundred dollar bill. She looked oddly at it, but asked no questions and simply took the money, giving him the appropriate amount of change. He put it away and walked out of the place. Instantly upon stepping outside, his ears picked up the sounds of people running in panic from a short distance. His eyes zoomed in on the spot he'd heard the noise and even if other people would have been hard pressed to discern what was happening, he could see a band of ten armed men running into a bank. 'It's official, this is a record,' he thought to himself as he quickly made his way towards the disturbance.

* * *

Robin was in his room, preparing for a session of combat training, or what Beast Boy sometimes called 'The Death Run'. He picked up some of his exploding energy disks which he put into his utility belt. Then he sharpened a few of his birdarangs before attaching them to his belt also. He then grabbed one of his telescopic staves, put the belt around his waist and went out the door with the intent of meeting the rest of the team at the training grounds. His idea changed when the alarm went off throughout the tower. He ran to the nearest terminal for the Titans' main computer. Typing a few quick commands on the keyboard revealed to him the reason for the alarm. He then picked up his communicator and contacted all the other titans. "What's the trouble?" they asked.

"Bank robbery on 31st street. Titans, go!" With the renown battle cry, they all prepared themselves for the upcoming confrontation.

* * *

The cloaked boy was running as fast as he could, but was restrained as he had one hand on his hood and another gripping his cloak to avoid revealing more than he wanted to. The robbers were still in the bank as he was making his way to it. The parking lot of the bank had been cleared of vehicles and people. No police cars or officers had arrived at the scene yet, even as the boy was getting closer. Finally, at the moment that he reached the parking lot, the doors burst open and the bank robbers rushed out, carrying money bags with them. They didn't have an enormous quantity with them because of their numbers and the fact that they were more focused on getting in and out fast. Though they hadn't counted on the cloaked boy making an appearance. They almost would have ignored him, but for the fact that a wind blew from his direction, just strong enough to halt their advance. "Where the hell did that come from?" one of them asked.

"It's that guy over there," another pointed to the cloaked boy.

"Well what're we waiting for? Get him."

The men raised their weapons, automatic rifles, pointed them directly at him and fired. Like the previous similar situation that he'd been in, a transparent barrier surrounded the boy, stopping the bullets in their tracks. Some of the men gaped in astonishment at the cloaked individual who was obviously a metahuman. Desperately they fired at him, until their guns clicked dry. Then faced with the realization that nothing they had could dispose of him, they scattered in two directions, to the boy's left and right, hoping that he'd be unable to pursue them all.

Apparently they didn't know the full extent of his powers. The shield disappeared as soon as the men stopped firing. He then began to concentrate. As he did, a wind kicked up, but stronger than before and spinning on itself. It spun faster and faster, becoming a tornado in a flash. The two groups of robbers suddenly found themselves being pulled into the powerful twister, despite their efforts. It spun for a short moment longer, trapping all the men within, then began to fade away, the boy not wanting to cause harm to come to any innocents. When the wind had completely died down, the ten robbers were surrounded by transparent walls all around them like the barrier the boy had erected a moment ago.

The boy's hearing then alerted him to the sound of an approaching vehicle. He looked in the direction he'd heard it. Coming from a short distance away at an elevated speed, was a blue and white car. He could see that there were six people inside, but his eyes zoomed in on the person sitting in the passenger seat. He saw a pale girl dressed in a black leotard and blue cloak similar to his. He stared at her for a second, before snapping back to his senses. Realizing that the vehicle in question was headed towards him, he held onto his cloak and ran out of everyone's sight, but left the robbers trapped in the transparent prison.

* * *

Cyborg was driving the T-Car in the direction of the bank being robbed. All the other titans were in the car with him. As he drove, Terra suddenly placed a hand on her back just between her shoulder blades, not quite like it was causing her pain, but more like she could just feel something there. "Terra? Are you alright?" Beast Boy asked.

"I'm fine. It's just… I can feel something ahead of us. Like a big power discharge or something. I can't really say what."

"Well, we'll find out what it is soon enough," Cyborg said.

They continued until they turned on the street where the bank in question was. As the T-Car got closer, Raven was the first to take note of the black cloaked boy, while the other titans saw the transparent prison in which the ten robbers were trapped in. A brief moment later, Raven felt that someone was staring at her, and then she realized that it was the boy outside. Yet as soon as she saw this, he rushed away from the scene before they would arrive. "It's him," she muttered.

"Who's what?" Cyborg asked as he pulled the T-Car to a stop in front of the bank.

The six titans got out and stood ready for anything to come at them. "It's the person from the security recording last night," Raven explained. "It seems like he's already taken care of the problem."

"Ok. He took care of the bad guys, but where's he run off to and why?" Robin asked.

"I don't know," she admitted. "But we might be able to learn something about him here," she pointed to the transparent structure with the robbers inside it.

"Cyborg, do a scan on that thing to see what it's made of. Raven, find out what you can about what happened from those guys. Beast Boy, Starfire, take to the air and see if you can find any trace of our mystery cloaked person. Terra, you and I will ask the people around what they can tell us." They all nodded to the leader and went to their assigned tasks. The shape shifter turned into an eagle to have better vision and flew up with Starfire to search for the dark boy. Robin and Terra walked towards the civilians in the area to ask what they'd seen. A scanning device extended out of his Cyborg's right arm which he pressed against the translucent field.

As for Raven, she waited shortly until the police arrived. She used her magic to bind and carry the men out of their temporary prison so the police could handcuff them and take them away. Before the last one was put into one of the cruisers, Raven told the officers to hold him back so she could interrogate him. "Tell me what happened here," she ordered him in a no-nonsense voice.

"To hell with that! I ain't tellin you a thing!"

Raven placed a finger on his forehead and concentrated. She delved into his recent memories, despite the little mental resistance he offered. She could see the scene of him and the other robbers crashing into the bank and pointing their guns at the people, ordering them to get down. She sped through these, focusing on finding the moment that she was looking for. His mind then came to when they were running out of the bank. Through his eyes, she saw the black cloaked boy as he put up a barrier against all offense they threw at him. Then she could see the man run away, but get pulled back and spun around in what she assumed was a whirlwind, though his vision of the event was blurred. She broke the spell after reaching the moment when they were trapped in the transparent barrier. As she was done, the criminal was now taken away. By that time, Cyborg had also finished. "What'd you find out Rae?"

The young teenage girl's face twitched a little at the name, but she refrained from doing anything more. "He possesses strong control over wind for one. He trapped them with what I guess was a tornado."

"That's not all he can do. The scan on that thing," he indicated the barrier, "says that it's made up of air. Plus it looks pretty similar to what we saw in the security recording."

"Then that means he controls air," Raven stated. "He must be able to condense it into shapes he wants. By compressing the air around people he could freeze them in place like the two guys last time. And by manipulating it he can create wind. Apart from that, I'm pretty sure he has sharpened sight and hearing."

"What makes you say that?" he asked curiously.

"When we were driving to get here, I could feel him looking at … us." For some reason, Raven refrained from mentioning that it had specifically been her he'd been looking at. "And he must have been looking at us for longer, which means that he'd heard the T-Car coming before most people would have. So that would imply that he has sharp hearing." Cyborg nodded at this. Raven placed her hands on the transparent structure and concentrated for some time until she managed to dispel it. The two were soon joined by Robin and Terra.

"What'd you find out?" the leader asked. They all told each other what they'd discovered and compared their results. When they finished, Robin picked up his communicator and contacted Beast Boy and Starfire. "Did you two see any trace of our mystery person yet?"

"I am afraid we have not. Despite our best efforts we have been unable to locate him," Starfire said.

"Yeah, even with an eagle's eyes I can't see hide or hair of this guy," Beast Boy said, having turned back into his normal form.

Robin sighed at this. Cyborg placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself over for this. We'll find him some other time. Besides, he hasn't done anything so far, except for stopping a few bad guys."

"You're right," he admitted. "Beast Boy, Starfire, you can come back. We'll continue looking for this guy later."

* * *

The cloaked boy was resting on the floor of an old abandoned warehouse. His sharpened senses had allowed him to avoid detection by the flying girl and green eagle, despite nearly having been seen once. "Well, this wasn't so bad," he said to himself. "Except now probably about half the city's seen me. Could've been worse I guess." He lay down for some time, pondering about his life and what he'd done so far. Eventually his thoughts returned to the moment he'd seen the girl who'd caught his attention. He couldn't help but wonder what she looked like without her cloak. He laughed a little at this. "How hypocritical of me." He decided to rest a little bit longer, before he'd head out again.

* * *

In a more hidden and secretive area of Jump City, a tall man stood in front of computers screens. The one eye that showed from his orange mask observed the footage displayed with great interest. "No trace remains of this mysterious meta-human, but we have a recording from the last time he was seen." The anchorwoman's face disappeared and was replaced by the image from a bank's security camera.

The masked man watched the cloaked boy intensely, observing every detail about him and his powers. "Interesting," he muttered. "You have a great power inside of you, much like Terra. But you appear to have perfect control over yours. Such talent could serve me well."

* * *

I hope this was worthy of your time and if you don't mind, I'd really appreciate reviews. I wanted to make this chapter longer, but I ran out of ideas and stopped it there.


	3. The Truth Hurts, So Does Betrayal

Disclaimer: It'd be cool if I owned the Teen Titans and all that stuff, but as tragic as it is, I don't.

This chapter is based around the episode 'Betrayal' (the title makes that kind of obvious).

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Pattattack

**The Truth Hurts****, So Does Betrayal**

In one particular part of Jump City, there was a jewellery store. It was not the only one of its kind in the city. At this time of night it was closed, like many places around it. A couple of security cameras were placed in and out of the building so as to spot anyone near who might come at this hour. It was equipped with a security alarm designed to go off as soon as it detected any unexpected presence within. Regardless of the systems installed to be on alert for intruders, a half a dozen men were walking in the direction of this place. A faint metallic sound could be heard coming from them as they walked. When they got close enough so that they could be seen, had anyone been around, it turned out that they were not men. In fact, they weren't human for that matter, but rather humanoid robots. Their covering was mostly black and metallic gray, with a dull orange circle in the middle of their 'faces' where their eyes were and their nose would have been.

Uncaring about the security installed, not that they were programmed with emotions, the robot in front took out a small laser weapon shaped like a handle with a red light at the tip. It aimed the weapon at the door handle and fired, melting it and causing an alarm to go off. It followed up by shooting another target inside the store, upon which the alarm shut off. The robots proceeded to pull out bags and fill them with all the jewellery displayed in this place.

Despite the short moment that the alarm had been activated, it had not gone unnoticed. Five of the robots turned around upon hearing a sound coming from the sixth. It now had a hole in its chest about the size of an average person's fist. It fell on the floor, revealing the figure responsible for its condition. Just inside the building was a person wearing a black cloak with a hood and dark green clothing. In a hand sporting a brown glove, was a transparent sword held point up. The remaining robots scanned their memory banks to identity the individual and what their orders were regarding them. The information they held said that this person was a boy with powers and their orders were to fire upon sight.

The analysis took no more than a split second and was followed up by the machines dropping the bags and aiming their weapons at the cloaked boy. But as fast as they were, he was faster, a point that was proven when he flicked his weapon, hurling it at the center of the robot on the far right. It pierced the neck, disabling the metal humanoid and dropping it to the floor. Paying no attention to their fallen ally, the now four remaining robots all fired at the metahuman, but he simply wiled the sword to disappear and formed a barrier to protect himself. He then commanded his shield to be dispelled and sent small razor sharp gusts of wind that sliced across another of the units, creating gouges across its body that tore it apart. He ducked and weaved in the space he had available and when he found the opportunity, a blast of wind smashed two more units through the store's back wall.

Despite the fact that there were only two combatants left, neither one relented. The robot fired rapidly at the boy, attempting to prevent him from bringing his powers to bear. This proved unsuccessful, as in his ingenuity, he sent a display case crashing into his enemy, not damaging it much but interrupting its fire. This permitted him to conjure a wave of air that sliced the robot cleanly in two at the mid section, the top half which slid off and clattered to the floor.

The boy looked over his work with an observant eye. The place looked as if a mini tornado had blown through. There was a sizeable hole in the wall where he'd blasted two of the robots, most of the jewellery was strewn about and the display cases and counters were marked and broken so as to require repairs. If one could see the boy's face, they would have noticed him frowning in thought. "Who the hell sends half a dozen robots to rob a place like this?" he asked himself. Deciding that he'd ponder on that question later, he walked out through the doorframe. The door itself had been repeatedly hit by the robot's fire and so had the window. As he walked away, he didn't take notice of the small cameras that watched him with a strange interest, as they had been doing so for the entire skirmish.

* * *

On the outskirts of Jump City, there was a lone building. Just from the look of it, one could see that it wasn't quite an every day place. Units from the Jump City Police Department were running through the hallways inside. The reason for their agitation was the band of robots similar to the others that had attempted to rob the jewellery store at the same time. Most of them were armed with handheld laser weapons, except for one of them that was carrying a large, metal cylinder shaped device. They continued moving outward, taking a little time to knock out the security guards and police officers that got in their way. Eventually they reached one of the outside walls. As there was no exit of any kind, one of the robots threw a charge at it which stuck on and exploded when signalled to do so.

They had just stepped outside, when the leading robot was struck by a birdarang in the head, peeling away part of its face and revealing the circuitry underneath. The item in question flew back to its owner who caught it effortlessly. All six of the teen titans were standing a short distance from them. Robin, holding the weapon he'd just thrown in his hand, with more at his disposal. Beast Boy, currently in his regular human like shape. Cyborg, his cybernetic parts glowing with their usual blue light. Starfire, hovering above the ground, a starbolt covering each hand. Raven, floating in the air, her powers at the ready. And Terra, standing on a large boulder ten feet above the ground with three more hovering near her.

"Tell Slade the Titans have a message for him," Robin said.

"Eat dirt!" Terra followed up her words by hurling the boulders she held with her powers at the mass of Slade's robots, otherwise known as Sladebots. Each struck one of them, crushing it against the ground.

This being done, Robin shouted the famous Titans' battle cry. "Titans, Go!"

The male titans ran on the ground, while Raven and Starfire were flying in the air, Terra still standing on a boulder, having ripped another couple of them from the earth. The Sladebots fired their weapons at the incoming teens. Robin hopped on a rock that Terra sent flying his way. He dodged laser fire thanks to his own reflexes and the moving platform. Upon reaching the first line of robots, the Boy Wonder jumped off the boulder, which crashed into one of the enemies, and landed both feet on another.

Fuelled with the righteous fury needed to use her radioactive powers, Starfire's eyes glowed green as twin beams of energy shot out towards more of the robots. They swept across the ground, blasting an additional three androids.

Raven's black telekinetic powers surrounded a large chunk of earth from underneath a group of the humanoid machines. It split it two and snapped upward like a bear trap, crushing them between the two pieces. She then levitated the earthen projectiles ahead at her blonde teammate who grabbed them with her own powers and sent them crashing in the midst of a group of Sladebots. "Thanks a ton," she said to her darker friend.

"Closer to two tons actually," came the reply.

In the short moment that the exchange has lasted, laser blasts shot in their direction. Raven only managed to erect a weak shield and was forced back, while the rock that Terra was standing on crumbled as it was hit. She fell to the ground and looked up to four hostiles standing near her. Fate came to her rescue in the form of Beast Boy. He shifted from a bird overhead and landed behind her as an angry green gorilla. Utilizing its super strength, he smacked aside the robots almost contemptuously with one hit each from his large fists. Having done such, he gently picked up Terra and changed back to his usual form. "You saved me," Terra said with gratefulness.

One could almost picture Beast Boy's eyes changing into big red hearts if they saw his expression. "Yeah, that was cool," he said in a bit of a daze.

The blonde girl took note of the fact that her friend was still holding her in his arms." Uhh Beast Boy? You can put me down if you'd like."

The words snapped him out of his reverie. He set Terra down one her feet with a blush on his face. "Right! I was just uhh…" he attempted to explain his actions that had caused the awkward moment to pass between the both of them. Again he snapped to his senses as another Sladebot was sent flying past them, courtesy of a well placed shot from Cyborg's sonic cannon. He rejoined the melee, shifting into a ram and hitting an enemy in the mid section.

Cyborg retracted his sonic cannon and punched a robot, sending it flying into the path of one of the alien teen's starbolts. He then changed his arm again and shot at another band of enemies, the blast amplified by the exploding disk Robin hurled at them. Raven hovered close to the ground as two foes came at her from opposite directions. They fired their weapons at her, but she disappeared and rematerialized away from them, causing their shots to hit the other. They were finished off when she uprooted a tree and slammed both of them with it like a baseball bat.

The fighting continued onward until all the Sladebots in the area were no longer active. The six teenagers cheered at their victory, Raven being the exception to this rule as she usually was. Robin's communicator chose that particular moment to beep, though it wasn't the sound of an emergency. He answered it regardless. "Robin speaking."

"Robin, this is Chief Smith," the voice that spoke belonged to one of the head figures of Jump City's police force who communicated with the Titans sometimes. "I'm at a jeweler's and the place had half a dozen Sladebots in it."

"It had?" he put emphasis on the second word.

"They've all been disabled. From the looks of things, the best explanation seems to be that this new metahuman who's blown into town came by and stopped them."

"Thanks for the info, but we'll check it out another time." At that, Robin hung up and stowed his communicator away. "This doesn't make any sense," the Boy Wonder frowned. "Why would Slade send robots just to rob a place like that?"

"Come on Robin," Starfire said in a cheery voice. "Let us ask these questions later. For now, we must celebrate our latest victory."

"Alright! I say we go get pizza!" Cyborg suggested.

"Sure, why not?" Robin agreed.

* * *

"What makes no sense to one, may be different for another." The voice that spoke those words belonged to Slade himself. He stood still in his lair as he watched the footage from both fights that had happened. The multitude of screens displayed many different angles of each Titan and the unknown black cloaked boy as they fought his robots. The computers analyzed every aspect of every individual and their powers. Regardless of such, the newest hero had too many uncertainties surrounding him for the master criminal's liking. "We can always work around those," he muttered to himself.

One of the screens changed from the image previously on it as Slade typed a message. "_Excellent job. You've done well apprentice. All our work is about to pay off. We strike tonight and by sunrise tomorrow, the Titans will be annihilated and soon we shall have another friend to join us._" He turned around as he finished. In the darkness he could see the numerous outlines of figures awaiting his command.

* * *

The Titans were all gathered in the main room. Plates, cups, bits of food and empty pizza boxes were strewn about, indicating the celebrations that had been ongoing. Currently, there was one final slice of pizza left and they were debating who should have the privilege of eating it. "Wait a second, I've got the perfect solution," Cyborg said. He then picked up an empty pop bottle and placed it in the middle of them. "So the last slice of pizza goes to…" He gave it a spin and when it stopped, it pointed at the geomancer. "Terra!"

She grabbed the remaining pizza slice and shoved it into her mouth, devouring it shortly. "Seriously though," Robin spoke up. "Great job tonight. We're glad to have you on the team."

"And we are most delighted to have you as our friend." Starfire spoke in her usual cheerful voice.

Raven's expression remained neutral. "What they said."

"Thanks, all of you, for everything," she said with gratefulness on her face. "But, you don't need to make a big deal for all of this. I'm just doing my job."

"Well it's a big deal to us. Good friends don't come along that often," Beast Boy pointed out.

Having decided that it was past time for partying, Cyborg got up and walked to go to his room. A panel opened up next to the door with a fingerprint scanner. He pressed his hand against it, at which it beeped and the lights dimmed down. "Alright yall, Titan's Tower's locked up and Cyborg's shutting down." He let out a yawn as he walked out.

"We should all get some sleep," Robin said. "Slade may have been stopped this time, but we still haven't figured out what he's planning." They all wished each other good night and went to their own rooms.

* * *

The young cloaked teenager had been unable to sleep since stopping the robots at the jeweler's. He was now sitting by himself on the roof of one of the many skyscraper shaped buildings in the city, more precisely, on a circular platform of air hovering a foot above the roof. He sat crossed legged, eyes closed, hands on his knees and his cloak wrapped around himself. He felt the slightest breeze across his face as he breathed deeply, enjoying the calm he got from meditation. He continued like this for a while until something smacked him in the face. Slightly annoyed at being interrupted, he grabbed the offending object and was about to toss it away, when he opened his eyes and noticed that it was the front page of a newspaper. His attention having caught by it, he smoothed it out instead. The picture showed six people in front of the 'T' shaped building not too far from where he was now. He identified them as the six people he'd seen after stopping the bank robbery. He read the text underneath the image. "_The Teen Titans from left to right: Robin, Starfire, Terra, Raven, Cyborg and Beast Boy. Picture taken after the announcement of Terra as an official Titan._"

The boy looked up at the building from the picture after having read the article associated with it. "So, these are Jump City's super heroes," he said to himself. "This explains a lot." He stared at Titan's Tower with a look of longing. "Pff, who am I kidding? It's not like I've had a lot of people wanting to be friends before, and I doubt that'll change any time soon." With a sigh, he folded the paper and stashed it away in a pocket. As he still didn't feel like sleeping yet, he decided to stay on the roof and simply look around at the surroundings.

* * *

Terra sat down in front of a table in her room with a laptop. She looked around almost nervously, and with a sigh she started to type at the keyboard. Just as she was done, a knock sounded on her door, startling her. She closed the computer and went to check out was there. The door slid open, revealing Beast Boy with his arms behind his back, a bit of a blush on his face and smiling widely. "Umm, hi," he said hesitantly.

"Hi," she replied, uncertain about the green shape shifter's behavior. Terra glanced briefly down both ends of the corridor and saw no one else. "Ok. Well, nice talking to you."

Beast Boy quickly took his hand from behind his back before Terra turned around into her room. It had something wrapped in a mishap of gray paper and tape. "I uhh, kinda made you something."

"You did?" she said with a touch of surprise.

"Yeah," he said as he passed it to her. "Had a little trouble gluing it together." He'd barely managed to pry his hands off of the glue gun before walking over.

Terra pushed aside the wrapping and inside in was a beautiful heart shaped silvery box. Upon opening it, she could see her reflection on the mirror inside. She marveled at the gift. "Beast Boy… It's… I don't know what to say."

"You could say yes, cause I'm about to ask you out on a date," he said with a blush creeping up on his face.

"Ohh… wow."

"So, you wanna do something tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow…" she clutched the gift against her. "I… I'm sorry Beast Boy. I just can't." She then backed into her room and closed the door in his face.

"So, umm… maybe some other time?" he dejectedly looked down at the floor and marched back to his own room. When he arrived in his room he stood in front of the mirror on his wall and began to berate himself for his failure. "Ahhh, you idiot!" he almost yelled at his reflection. "How could you mess that up? All you had to do was knock on the door and say…" He proceeded to act out the different possible scenarios in front of the mirror. "Anything would've been better than giving her a stupid glue covered box and acting like a total idiot." He sunk down to his hands and knees. "Now she'll never go out with me." He looked to the side upon hearing someone clearing their throat. It turned out to be Terra outside the open window, standing on a rock. Beast Boy let out a cry of surprise. "Umm, how long have you been standing there?" he asked, a look of embarrassment on his face.

"Wanna go out?"

"Really? Yeah! I mean, that sounds fun. But why didn't you just knock on my door?"

"Do you trust me?" she asked as she offered a hand for him to get on with her.

"More than anyone I've ever met." He then gripped her hand and embarked on the platform before it flew off.

* * *

While two of his friends were leaving the tower, Cyborg stepped out of his room. His stomach rumbled loudly as he did. "Aww man." He walked through the hall until reaching the main room. Though it was still dark, he made his way directly to the refrigerator without stumbling on anything. "I knew I shouldn't have given up that last slice of pizza," he complained to himself. He kneeled down and searched through the fridge. "Ohh well. Nothing a foot long ham and beef jerky sandwich wont-" Cyborg stopped, because with the light of the fridge, he could now see the legion of sladebots in the room. "No."

* * *

Beast Boy and Terra were now looking at Jump City from a distance. The moonlight cast a glow over the many buildings and the water. "When you asked me out, I didn't realize you meant out of town."

"Looks cool, doesn't it?" Beast Boy nodded at this. "I guess sometimes you have to leave a place to appreciate it." They spent a bit more time just looking around, a slight breeze blowing on their faces. "You hungry?" she broke the silence.

"Always."

"Come on. I know a good place to eat." She then flew them away in the direction she had in mind. Unknowing of the figure that watched them.

* * *

The cloaked boy sat still on his perch. He observed quietly as he saw two figures he knew were Beast Boy and Terra. He watched them as they stood on a floating rock while looking at the city. He almost shrunk back, but deduced that since the green teenager was in his more human form he wouldn't have the same eyesight as him. Even without knowing either of their powers in advance, the dark boy would've guessed that Terra was the one with the earth moving abilities. He already knew that Terra was the Latin word for earth, though how he knew remained a mystery to him, as well as why the name carried a certain familiarity with it. After a bit, they flew away and the dark boy stood up with the intention of following them.

* * *

Terra landed their platform near a roadside diner named Ben's. She walked in with Beast Boy tailing behind her. It was an older styled place and had music playing. She herself went to the counter and sat on a stool, but Beast Boy hesitated upon entering. Apart from himself and Terra, he could only see a bunch of older men inside, three of whom were playing pool and the rest sitting on their own at a counter. He made his way next to Terra even so. The waitress came over while he was looking at the menu. "Umm, I don't suppose you guys have a veggie burger?" he asked, having seen how much of the food offered was meat related.

The waitress simply stood there with a blank look on her face. "We'll just get the usual Pam," Terra said.

"So, I'm guessing you've been here before," Beast Boy commented.

"I've been a lot of places before I became a Titan, remember?"

"So what's the coolest place you've been?"

Terra face showed a look of nostalgic sadness at the question. "Don't know. Probably Titan's Tower. But there's plenty of cool stuff out here. Who knows? I might even give you a tour if you behave." Two plates were then deposited in front of them with a piece of apple pie and cream on top. "Dig in."

Beast Boy took the spoon she offered and put a bit of the dessert in his mouth. He almost froze as he tasted it. "This if the best pie ever made."

"There's a place about 200 miles outside of Gotham that bakes a mean cherry. But for apple, this is the place to-" Terra gasped as she looked in the mirror. She then turned around but saw nothing out of the ordinary, though she could've sworn she'd seen someone else. Beast Boy paid no attention to her behavior, since he far too occupied with other things. She reached into a pouch at her belt and left the right amount of change on the counter. "Come on, let's get outta here. Night's still young," she said as she pulled her friend along with her.

"But, but… pie!" Despite his protests, Terra brought him with her and flew away on the rock she'd left outside. Though in the process of doing so, Beast Boy's communicator had dropped to the ground.

* * *

The dark boy stopped a short ways from the diner. He stood still, wrapped in his cloak and blanketed by the darkness while watching the two specific people. He focused on them intently, his golden eyes missing no detail, however small. From the shape shifter's hesitance while looking at the menu, to the geomancer's look of sadness as she spoke to him. When she turned around, he almost thought that she was looking at him, but realized that it wasn't so. He noticed the communicator falling on the ground as Terra took off with her friend. He decided to pick it up since he wanted to wait before following them so he could remain out of sight. Using the darkness and the people's distraction to his advantage, he made his way to the discarded object unseen. But when he grabbed it, a voice spoke through the other end. "Beast Boy, come in. We're under attack and need you back at the tower now!"

Silently cursing his own sense of duty for tugging at him and his luck in having decided to pick up the communicator at this particular time, the boy fumbled a bit before answering. "Beast Boy isn't available. He dropped his communicator when he and Terra took off."

"What? Who is this? And why do you have Beast Boy's communicator?" the voice on the other side was clearly confused at the turn of events. Laser fire resounded from the other end of the line.

"I'm someone who can help if you just tell me where you are."

"If you're going to help, then head to the giant 'T' shaped building on the island not far from the city. My friends and I are under attack and could use help."

"Be there soon."

* * *

Robin clicked off his communicator and ran away from the piece of rubble he'd been crouching behind. Shots from the sladebots' laser weapons flew by him as he sped back towards his friends. With agility and precision not many possessed, he jumped through the hole in the floor and landed on one of the robots below. He followed that by hopping off and delivering a kick to the second and repeating the maneuver for the third. A blue and a green beam of energy from Cyborg and Starfire provided cover for him as he reached them. Raven emerged from the shadows on the wall as he arrived. "Beast Boy and Terra aren't in their rooms," she informed him.

"They were right then."

"Right about…?" she raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I tried Beast Boy's communicator but someone else answered instead. They said Beast Boy had dropped his communicator when he and Terra took off. They also said that they were someone who could help and that they were coming."

"Whoever they are, let's hope they get here soon. Because two hundred armed robots got past my security." Cyborg stopped his cannon's fire and shifted it into his arm. He opened up a panel in the wall and inserted his hand, but unexpectedly received an electric shock, causing him to pull out his hand. "Can't even access the computer, we're locked out."

"It doesn't matter. We're still going to fight no matter what. Titans, go!" The four super teens abandoned their post and rushed the mass of enemy robots. Robin flipped and planted his feet squarely on a sladebot, followed by a birdarang that sliced across the throat of another. He ducked as a third swung at him and lost its head from a sonic blast. Cyborg and Starfire charged alongside him. Ripping the sladebots apart with starbolts, sonic energy and super strength.

Raven held back and used her telekinesis to pick up the enemies and hurl them against the walls. Black energy surrounded the palm of her hand as she blocked incoming fire. It then changed to resemble more like claws as she chanted. "Azerath Mentrion Zinthos!" The energy covering Raven's hand shot out and transpierced three more robots. Another couple of enemies ran out from Raven's room towards her. "That's my room. Nobody goes in my room." In her rage, she swung her hands downward, at which the hallway's entire floor collapsed. Robin and Starfire were ahead and were safe, as well as herself thanks to her levitating, but Cyborg was still punching robots and fell down into the training room with them.

* * *

Elsewhere in the tower, more sladebots were at work. They set up a large cylindrical device against the wall and one of them was typing on the equipment's pad. It was interrupted when another robot was blasted into the one at work. They all turned in the direction that the blast had come from. They spotted the black cloaked boy standing there with his arms at his side. He was about to conjure a wave of air to crush the robots, but he changed his plan upon seeing Robin coming from the opposite direction and instead sent a series of sharp gusts at a limited group of them to avoid hitting the Boy Wonder. A transparent sword materialized in his right hand. He then stabbed one of the metal humanoids in the midsection, pulled out his weapon and swung to the side, slicing off another's arms while Robin threw an exploding disk at one's head and took out a telescopic staff, joining the melee. Together, the two fighters finished off the sladebots around them in little time. Robin retracted his staff which he put on his belt and his ally dispelled his sword. "Who are you?" he asked the dark teen.

His hood had contrived to stay on his head during the fight, continuing to hide all of his face but the golden eyes. "New guy, here to help. That's all that matters," he answered in a Raven like manner.

Robin was skeptical about this person, but knew that the situation they were in was too important to waste much time. Setting his questions aside for now, he and his newest ally continued the arduous process of removing all hostiles from the tower.

* * *

At the same time that the other Teen Titans were fighting sladebots in their home with the cloaked boy, the changeling and geomancer were having the time of their lives by themselves at an abandoned fair. The rides and games were all in good condition so they could do whatever their hearts desired. They rode the bumper cars, a spinning ride, took photos in a booth, went through a haunted house with Beast Boy being frightened at every turn and played different games. They went on like this until they decided to simply talk in one of the cabins of the ferris wheel. "So… why'd you change your mind about going out with me? Was it the pointy ears?"

"To tell you the truth, I realized that of all the things I could've done tonight, what I really wanted to do was spend time with you," she spoke with a smile.

"Lucky for me you didn't have other plans."

Her face changed to a solemn expression. "Beast Boy, if you knew something bad about me, would you still be my friend?"

"Of course I would."

"I mean, if you were really my friend, I could tell you anything. And no matter how horrible it was, you'd still like me right?"

"I promise Terra, no matter what." The two of them leaned closer to each other, their eyes closed, and their lips about to touch.

But they would not kiss, as a voice spoke up from inside the cabin. "Hello Terra. Remember me?" A figure stood up so they could see them. It turned out to be none other than Slade. He took a few steps towards them and grabbed Beast Boy with one hand and flung him back, though he managed to catch himself before falling. "I have plans for you Terra. Did you think you and your little boyfriend could just run away?"

"Let her go," Beast Boy pulled himself up and changed in to a velociraptor. He circled around Slade until jumping on him, causing both of them to go through the cabin's wall and land on the next one's roof. "Wadda you want with her?" he said he held him pinned down.

"You mean, she didn't tell you? I thought you two were friends." Slade then kicked Beast Boy off him and sprung to his feet. The shape shifter changed to an eagle in his fall and flew back up, landing near Slade as a tiger. The armored villain drew a telescopic staff and extended it as they circled each other. The green tiger lunged at him, but he stopped him with his staff and struggled briefly before flinging Beast Boy back to Terra. He jumped and sailed through the air, swiping at the teen who ducked and became an angry gorilla. He retracted his staff and did a series of flips and acrobatic maneuvers to get away. But the green primate caught up and grabbed Slade, tossing him like a rag doll.

"Beast Boy, come on." Terra floated on a rock near him.

He focused his attention on Slade and lunged at him, shifting into a smaller monkey. He crashed into the villain who flipped up with ease. They stood in a grapple, but as his form lacked the previous one's strength, he was overcome by Slade. "Terra," he said as Slade was about to deliver a punch to his normal form.

Seeing this, Terra cried out as she pushed her powers, creating a fissure headed towards the combatants. "Beast Boy, fly." Heading her advice, he changed into a hummingbird and flew away as the ferris wheel crumbled. Both teenagers landed on the ground, Beast Boy changing and grabbing her hand, leading her into a mirror house. When they stopped running, he reached for his communicator, but found that it was missing.

"I lost my communicator, gimme yours."

"I don't have it."

"Then we've gotta get back to the tower."

"Beast Boy, I can't go back," she said with a sorrowful look.

"Why not?"

"Because she's not your friend," Slade's voice said. "She's my apprentice." The man himself appeared in the surrounding mirrors. "She was never a Titan, she's been working with me all along."

"That's a lie!" Beast Boy punched and kicked the mirrors, shattering the glass as Slade spoke.

"I found her. I helped control her powers. Then I sent her to destroy your little team. From the inside out. Tonight her orders were to strike, but I guess she took pity on you. Even so, she was kind enough to deactivate the security at Titans Tower." Beast Boy stared at the only intact mirror left. "Your friends are being annihilated as we speak."

"Liar!"

"Beast Boy, it's true."

He turned around to see Terra standing in front of Slade. "Terra, why?"

"I'm sorry, but he taught me to control my powers, to save me from myself. I had to follow him after that."

"We trusted you, gave you a place to call home, whatever you needed. And you threw it all away? I actually used to think we we're friends. Well not anymore." Those words said, he changed into a grizzly and barreled out of the building.

"Apprentice, come. There's been a change of plans." Terra and Slade then disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

Some time later, Beast Boy arrived at Titans Tower. He landed on the rooftop and went to go inside, when he spotted the cloaked boy from before. His cloak was singed and pierced in a few places, but the shape shifter could see no more of him than the recording had showed. He tossed him his communicator which he caught in his hands. "You dropped this," he said in a neutral voice, though it had a touch of tiredness. "The robots are down, your team's inside."

"Why are you doing this?"

"I've my reasons. Your friends are waiting." Beast Boy left him behind to go check up on his friends. He reached them in the main room where he explained where he'd been, as well as the truth he'd learned from Terra and Slade. In turn they told him about what had happened inside the tower, although the ruined sladebots and signs of battle said enough. Not wanting to hear more, he simply walked out and made his way to Terra's room, a few tears dropping from his eyes.

"I knew it," Raven said. "She's been working for Slade all along. We should never have trusted her."

"But we did," Starfire spoke in a saddened voice. "And we paid the price for it."

"What about mystery man?" Cyborg referred to the boy with air powers who had helped them. "What's our position regarding him?"

"The same as before," Robin said. "He's helped us out, but we still don't know enough about him to really make a decision." He looked at the wreckage around them with a glum face. "For now, we need to recover from this. After that… only time will tell."

* * *

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. If you don't mind taking the time to leave a review (even an anonymous one), that would be appreciated. Compliments are praised, criticism is accepted and anything short of insults works for me.


	4. A Revealing Day

Disclaimer: You already knew I don't own the Teen Titans beforehand.

This chapter is based around season 2 episode 11. BUT, I've molded it to suit my purposes.

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**A Revealing Day**

It had been a week since Terra had betrayed the Titans and openly admitted to serving Slade. Nothing of significant importance had happened since then. The damage done to Titan's Tower from the battle with Slade's robots had been repaired and it stood just the same as it had before. But the damage from Terra's betrayal had left her former friends emotionally scarred, most of all Beast Boy. Those wounds had been the most painful for the shape shifter to overcome, though he was recovering with the help of his fellow Titans. The sun shone brightly in the late morning, as if trying to cheer everyone up from their previous gloominess.

Raven was on the tower's roof, hovering cross legged in the air as she was meditating. Her hood was pulled back and her cloak flapped gently behind her. She could feel the sun's warmth upon her face and the ever so gentle breeze, just barely strong enough to blow a strand of her hair out of place. She remained in this position for some time, her mind at peace and her body relaxed. Raven opened her eyes, looking at the city before her and the promise of beautiful weather for the rest of the day.

Having decided that she had spent sufficient time meditating for the moment, Raven stood up and went back inside the tower. She made her way to the main room and found Cyborg and Beast Boy sitting in front of the television playing a video game. She paused for a moment to look at the green teenager. He seemed happier than he'd been lately, his grief likely set aside for the moment and taken up by his competitiveness against Cyborg. The two were so absorbed in their game that they either didn't pay attention to Raven, or just hadn't seen or heard her come in. She was more inclined to believe the latter. She walked over to the kitchen area and grabbed a nice red apple. A cry of victory and disbelief erupted from the male titans.

It appeared that the two of them had finished in a draw at some game that Raven didn't concern herself with finding out what it was. Cyborg happened to turn around and notice her standing in the room. "Hey Raven," he greeted.

Beast Boy looked in the same direction. "Hi Rae," he said in a cheery voice.

Though being called 'Rae' was hardly something that she was fond of, the young sorceress was in a good mood and decided to let it slide for the time being. She simply gave them a small nod in return as she chewed on the fruit in her hand. "You know, it is rather nice outside," she pointed out. "Don't you think you two should get out and enjoy the day?"

They both looked at each other and then Raven. "Maybe some time later," Cyborg said. "But I never figured you out as someone to be this hipped about the weather."

Raven gave him a blank look. "I'm not. Just pointing out the obvious." Silence reigned for a short moment longer. Raven threw the apple core into the garbage disposal and started to walk out of the room. "Well, if you two aren't moving, then I will."

"Where are you off to?" Beast Boy inquired.

"To get a new book," she answered. "You should try it sometime. You might find something even a person of your intellectual level would be able to read." Beast Boy had a confused look on his face for a moment, but he simply turned back to the television so him and Cyborg could resume their game.

* * *

Elsewhere in the city, Robin and Starfire were out on patrol. The Boy Wonder was on his R-Cycle and the alien girl was riding behind him. Though he would never admit it to anyone else, once Starfire has loosened her crushing grip around his waist to a normal level, the feeling of having her arms around him was disturbingly pleasant. "You okay there Star?" he asked.

She squealed excitedly in response. "Weeeeeeeeeee! I never knew that patrolling in such a manner could be this exiting!"

Robin smiled slightly from behind his helmet, Starfire's boundless joy and energy seeping into him. That was one of her traits that more than made up for her strange manners. They went on like this for some time, enjoying themselves a little, while keeping an eye out for any situation in which they'd need to interfere. Nothing eventful happened, until Starfire caught a glimpse of what she thought was the black cloaked boy that had helped them fend off Slade's robots in the tower. "Robin, look."

The Boy Wonder stopped the R-Cycle on the side of the road and looked in the direction that she was pointing. "What is it Star?"

"I thought that I had seen the mysterious cloaked individual on the rooftop of that building," she indicated the building in question. "Perhaps I was mistaken and it was simply my imagination."

Robin frowned in thought for a moment. "I don't know, maybe it was that guy. Why don't you fly up to get a different point of view? You might be able to see him better."

Starfire felt the briefest moment of sadness at the thought of letting go of Robin, but it disappeared soon and she flew up while Robin continued on the ground.

* * *

The boy with the black cloak stood on top of one of the many skyscraper like buildings in Jump City. He looked down from his perch at the streets bustling with people. His golden eyes scanned for any wrongdoers and criminals in the area. But like the other days since Terra's betrayal, there had been little to no criminal activity. His ears caught the sound of a motorcycle coming from the opposite direction that he'd been looking at. He swivelled his head and zoomed in on the two people riding it. He recognized them both in an instant as Robin who was driving and Starfire clinging to him from behind. The boy wrapped his cloak around himself as he backed further away from the edge of the roof.

His ears picked up some of the words Robin said. "... fly up to get a different point of view? You might be able to see him better."

The boy quickly made his way to a part of the roof where he would remain hidden unless she came too close. Starfire rose to a height above him, but despite her efforts, she could not see him like he could see her. She flew away after a brief look in the place where she thought she'd seen him. After he was certain that he was out of her sight, the cloaked individual permitted himself to step out of his hiding spot.

'Sure hasn't been a lot that happened since last week,' he thought to himself. 'Wonder what'll come next?' He swept his gaze across the people about the streets, though he was careful to remain unseen as he did so. A man was sitting on a bench with a newspaper opened up in front of him. Partly out of boredom, curiosity and the fact that he didn't have a chance to read the news often, the boy decided to focus his attention on the newspaper. His eyesight made it as easy as if his head were a foot away from it.

The greater part of the page he was currently looking at was an article about the events surrounding Terra's betrayal of the Titans. Some of what was written he'd guessed beforehand and some of it was new to him. For one reason or another, he happened to notice a small advertisement for a bookstore. 'Why not?' he asked himself. 'Could be nice to check it out, and with the Titans on patrol, there shouldn't be much to worry about as far as bad guys go.'

* * *

The bookstore in question was a relatively small building. The inside was darker, and it looked like the kind of place that few people would bother going to. As it happened, apart from a short older man sitting at the counter, it appeared to be devoid of people. This fact by itself appealed to the cloaked boy who usually preferred to keep contact with other people as low as possible, whenever possible. Making sure that his hood still covered his face as usual, he cast a quick glance around and made his way into the building.

The man sitting at the counter peeked over from the book he was reading when he heard the boy come in. He had short gray hair, a thin moustache, a small beard, wore plain gray and blue clothing and had a pair of spectacles at the tip of his nose. "Ah, good day there," he greeted, seemingly unfazed by his attire. "Please feel free to look around all you like." The boy gave him a nod and he put him out of his mind as he returned to his book.

'I like this place,' he thought to himself. He wandered among the shelves, mostly just looking at the selection of books available, occasionally stopping for a second to look at a title. After a bit, he went to the bookshelves further back. The man at the counter paid no attention to him, as he was still very much engrossed in his lecture. The young teenager examined the books aligned on the shelves before him, some thicker, some thinner. His attention was caught by one in particular, seemingly almost by chance. Curious, he reached out with his hand and pulled it out. It was a small black book with no image on the cover. The spine was just below an inch thick, the whole thing a little longer than the length of his hand and a bit less wide.

He turned it around, but could see no title or any kind of markings. He blew away the dust that lined the cover, but still nothing showed more than before. He turned around and opened up the little book that he held, but in the process of doing so, his hood caught on one book still on the shelf that stuck out a little. He failed to notice that his head was no longer covered, since he was now immersed in the words and images that filled the pages.

* * *

Raven was currently walking by herself to get to the bookstore she had in mind, having flown for most of the way. She allowed her cloak to rest loosely behind her and the hood to fall back. Few people beside herself were present in this particular part of town. A strange feeling came over Raven as she arrived in front of the bookstore. It was that of something that would happen soon, like a premonition, but she had no idea of what it would entail, nor when it would happen. Pushing it to the back of her mind for the moment, she walked in through the door anyway.

She recognized the old man reading a book behind the counter from her previous trips to this place. He lowered his book and saw Raven coming inside. He offered her a small nod, which she returned, and returned to his book once again. She walked about in search of a title that appealed to her, though nothing immediately caught her eye. She then decided to look for one in the section at the far back. When she got there, she froze in her tracks at the sight before her.

It was the black cloaked boy that had helped them before. He was standing a few meters away but seemed to not have noticed her. The hood of his cloak was down, and his head was exposed. The first thing about him that caught her attention, was his ears. Instead of rounding off at the top, they were pointed like Beast Boy's, but not quite as long. The next aspect was the fact that his skin was a light bluish green color, not one that any normal person could say they had. Apart from those, he had short black hair that was cut in a rough manner.

His ears twitched when the sound of Raven clearing her throat alerted him to her presence. He then spun on himself to face her, but dropped the book on the process. He noticed that she was looking at him strangely and his face ticked as he realized that he could no longer feel the presence of his hood atop his head. His face remained composed apart from the momentary lapse, though his mind was not quite as calm. 'Shit!' was the word that came into his head.

The both of them stared at each other for some time. His bright golden eyes peering into her dark blue ones, neither moving a muscle. The boy was the first one to break the silence. "Hi," he said simply. His voice was had a moderately deep tone and no emotions leaked out of it. Though Raven, with her empathic abilities, could sense emotions from him that she guessed emanated from the fact that he'd been caught without his face covered

"Hi," she replied.

"You must be Raven." The words were pronounced more like a statement than anything else.

"I've been called that. And you are?" She raised a questioning eyebrow.

He debated with himself whether to answer the question or not, but then he decided to give in since he knew her name already. "You can call me Gale."

The boy, presumably named Gale, and Raven, continued staring at each other for a moment. "Been in Jump City for long?" Raven asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Not really, just a few weeks."

"How'd you know my name?" In response to her question, Gale reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a newspaper article that he showed her. It was the one with the photo of the Titans and Terra that he'd kept from the previous week. "I see."

"Ever been here before?"

"Yeah. You?"

"First time." Raven could feel his emotions loosening a little as an effect of their conversation. He sighed and spoke up again. "What else did you want to ask me?"

Raven was mildly surprised by his offer. Just from their small talk so far, it was obvious to her that he was about as emotionally repressed and reserved as herself. She hadn't thought that he'd be this willing to open up. "Just curious, why'd you go out of your way to help us against Slade's robots?"

Gale sighed again and shook his head a little. "I had the good fortune of picking up Beast Boy's communicator after he dropped it and Robin chose that moment to call for help." A touch of sarcasm layered Gale's voice as he mentioned his 'good fortune'.

"Still, why'd you come after hearing Robin's call for help?"

Gale lowered his eyes as he spoke. "I… I don't seem to be able to help myself. Whenever I see or hear something bad happening, it's like… like a part of me pushes me to stop it, no matter how people might react to it, what the conditions are, or what the cost might be to myself."

Raven remained respectfully silent at this. She was about to say something to him, but then her communicator went off. She picked it up and Robin's voice spoke through the other end. "Raven, we're chasing after some guy tearing down Waterside Street on a chopper who's breaking stuff and terrorizing people. We need you to help out."

"I'm on it." She hung up, put her communicator away and turned back to face Gale. "You coming along?"

"Go ahead. I'll follow after." The young sorceress nodded and got out of the bookstore, taking to the sky towards where her friends were in pursuit of a new enemy.

* * *

Gale stood there for the briefest of moments as Raven left to go chase after whoever the other Titans were tailing. He picked up the little book he'd dropped and placed it back on the shelf. Unable to remain in his current location any longer, he made his way out onto the streets, not even bothering to cover himself up again. 'Guess this had to happen sooner or later,' Gale thought as he stepped outside. He untied his cloak from around his neck, grabbed a handful and tossed it aside.

The few people who were nearby gasped in shock as they saw him. He paid them no mind and simply flexed the muscles on his back. A pair of majestic brown feathery wings that were folded on his back expanded to full length. From end to end, they were about two meters wide and looked like those of an eagle, except for the fact that they were much larger. Two holes were cut into the back of his dark green shirt where his wings were sticking through.

Gale broke into a short run down the street, a platform of solid air appearing a distance in front of him. He hopped onto the platform and jumped off of it, commanding a wind to arise and blow in his wings. With the air running into his wings to support him, Gale almost instantly reached a height where he could fly without flapping his wings. Thanks to his ever so sharp eyes, he was able to follow Raven's distant figure with little trouble.

* * *

Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy were currently in pursuit of the man tearing down Waterside Street on a chopper. The Boy Wonder was riding his R-Cycle, Cyborg was driving the T-Car, with Beast Boy in the passenger's seat and Starfire was flying above them. The man they were chasing after had spiky black hair, though he wore a simple round helmet of the same color on his head. He was decked in dark pants and a black muscle shirt. He had a couple of tattoos on his muscular arms and a self assured expression on his face. The civilians backed off away from the pavement as much as they could. Despite the speed that the Titans were moving at, the biker was just as fast and was staying ahead of them. He laughed tauntingly as he looked back at the Titans. "Try all you want, you'll never catch Johnny Rancid."

Robin hurled a fistful of exploding disks at him, but he shot them out of the air with a laser pistol. Starfire attempted to hit him with a salve of starbolts, but he maneuvered his vehicle so that the green energy pellets did nothing more than smack against the pavement. He reached into a sack clipped to his bike and dumped out its contents on the ground, which happened to be a bunch of small metallic gray balls. Little spikes erupted from the balls once they hit the pavement. Robin simply swerved around them with ease, but Cyborg was unable to avoid them, resulting in the T-Car having four flats. "Dude! How'd that just happen?" Beast Boy wondered.

"Don't you worry about a thing my little grass stain," Cyborg replied. "I've got it covered." He pressed a button on the dashboard, and the tires suddenly re-inflated themselves to their previous state.

The pursuit continued for some time, the Titans and Johnny Rancid taking shots at each other with no major change in advantage for either heroes or villain. At one point, Raven joined up and was flying next to Starfire. The biker bad guy took out his laser pistol upon seeing the young sorceress in his mirror. He aimed and fired it off, though the shot wasn't really aimed for her. It hit the neck of a heavy lamp post near the head which then began to drop down towards a young girl.

Raven saw this happen and stopped in mid air, focusing her powers in an attempt to save the girl in question from a serious, if not lethal, injury. Before she managed to do so, a gust of wind pushed the young girl just out of harm's way, the lamp light smashing on the concrete. Everyone looked in the direction that the wind had originated from and were treated to something few of them expected.

A figure was flying in the air a distance away, but still close enough to distinguish him. Raven recognized the boy she'd talked with in the bookstore not too long ago. The color of his skin and eyes making it easy for her. Yet to her surprise, instead of a cloak, she could see wide birdlike wings that stretched out from his back. Even the villain stared. He took the wings into account, and when he looked at the golden eyes, his face was suddenly painted thick with fear. Raven could sense an almost unbelievable fury emanating from Gale as he saw Johnny Rancid.

The winged boy's eyes were radiating of anger at seeing the ill intended biker. He shot out towards him at an incredible speed, zooming by Raven and Starfire as if they were going no faster than a slow walking pace. Johnny's eyes opened even more in fear and he pushed his motorcycle to go as fast as it possibly could in an effort to get away from the source of his fear.

But his attempts were doomed to be useless. Gale spun on himself as he flew straight towards his target. His body became obscured as it spun faster than anyone could keep track. The reason for this unusual movement was made apparent when a tornado was formed by it. The whirlwind travelled from around the air controlling metahuman and went towards its creator's target.

The surge of power slammed into the fearful villain, sending him flying off his bike and into the air. Gale stopped spinning when he was about at his level in height. He then concentrated as he continued at breakneck speed, and a powerful gust of wind flew from the opposite direction and sent Rancid towards him. Gale drew back his arm as he flew and swung it forward hard at the villain who, as a result from the impact, was once again sent flying in the other direction. But this time he was halted before going too far, his feet dangling as his body was restrained by the air thickening around him.

Gale slowed down just as he approached the trapped man. He hovered in front of him, his wings outstretched, his eyes staring at him with a look colder than ice, but with the fires of anger still raging within. "Hello Johnny," he spoke in a voice that was on the border of a very thin line between lashing out or not. "Remember me?"

"You… you… you… you're that winged freak!" he said in a tone that showed how scared he was as much as his face did.

Gale reached out and grabbed the neck of his shirt in a fist. "I would've thought that our last meeting might have changed you at least a little. Do you need me to repeat what I did then?" Gale loosened the air around Johnny's head and he shook it frantically. "You're sure about this? Because it really would not bother me in the least to do just that." A wind kicked up as his eyes shone with power, blowing with increased speed and strength.

"No! There's no need to do that! Please, you're supposed to be a good guy, and good guys don't go around hurting defenseless people!" His voice took on a desperate tone as he tried convincing Gale to spare him further punishment.

The surrounding wind died down as his anger faded away to be replaced by his usual controlled self. He let go of Johnny with his hand and dispelled the bindings that held captive the source of his anger, though not before thickening the air underneath him just enough to slow down his descent in order to prevent any major injuries. When he was safely on the ground, Gale allowed the air to return to its normal state. The villain was soon handcuffed and taken into custody by the police. Raven was approaching him, but he decided that he couldn't bear to stick around for explanations, so he flew away.

* * *

Raven watched in surprise as Gale unleashed his powers on Johnny Rancid. The anger radiating off of him was like a bright flaring beacon, one that reminded the young teenager of herself when her emotions went out of control. She and Starfire had to brace themselves as a powerful wind blew through the sky. From this, it was obvious to Raven that Gale feeling emotions too powerfully caused the same general results as when she did. When he calmed himself and set Johnny Rancid down on the ground, she went to approach him, but he flew away before she got too close.

The Titans regrouped after the villain was carted off by the police to prison. "So, are we dealing with another guy that has the same kind of powers, or is it the same dude as before?" Beast Boy spoke up.

"His name's Gale, and yes he's the same person that helped us against Slade's robots," Raven filled in.

The other Titans had puzzled looks at this. "How do you know his name?" Robin asked.

"I went to a bookstore earlier and met him there. He had his cloak on, but the hood was off. We talked for a bit before you called."

"Did you discover anything more about him?"

"Apart from the fact that he's been in Jump City no more than two weeks, he said he can't stay still when he knows a crime's in progress. Also, his powers and emotions are tied together." 'Like my own,' she thought to herself.

Robin was mildly surprised to hear this. "He told you that much?"

"No. I figured out the last part by myself."

"What shall we do about this Gale person?" Starfire inquired.

Robin frowned in thought. "I still don't know. He's stopped a few bad guys and helped us against Slade's robots. He'd make a powerful ally, but… he hasn't yet stayed around long enough for us to approach him."

"He must have his reasons," Cyborg said. "Maybe if we give him more time he might come to trust us."

"We'll see, though we still have Slade to deal with." The other Titans nodded grimly at this.

* * *

Hope you liked it and reviews are greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, I'll answer them (unless it gives away stuff I want to keep for later).


	5. Aftershock  Part 1

Disclaimer: I'm feeling lazy so... you already get the idea.

Hello to anyone who reads this. I took me longer then I wanted to finish this chapter (mostly because I got distracted by reading other people's fics and stuff like that). I couldn't think of a better title, so I just took the one from the show. By the way, this chapter is pretty long and action packed. Enjoy!

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Aftershock – Part 1**

It was in a darker and slightly more sinister spot within Jump City. A tall, well built man, wearing black body armor with gray metallic parts and an orange face mask showing only one eye stood in a cavernous place. He was someone who could be ambitious, subtle, sneaky, intelligent and many other things, quite a few of which weren't good. As far as his name went, everyone simply knew him as Slade, including the young teenage girl standing opposite him.

She was thin, her long blond hair dropped down to about the middle of her back. Most of her body was covered in what seemed like rolled out bandages. On her shoulders, on her chest and at her elbows and waist were pieces of darker gray metal armor, as well as two bits on either side of her head.

"You've had doubts in the past," Slade's voice broke the ominous silence around them. "Made mistakes." Terra looked down as he continued. "But all that is behind you, isn't it?"

She raised her head and looked at his face. "Yes," came the single worded answer.

"You belong to me now, don't you?"

Again she answered with few words. "I do."

Slade stood behind her as he went on. "From this day forward, will you serve me and me only?" He asked the question while fully foreseeing what the answer would be.

"I will."

"Will you obey my every command, no matter what it might be?"

"I will."

"Will you fight at my side forever?" As he spoke, he turned Terra around so that she would face him. In the palm of his left hand, he held a round device, almost like one of the Titan's communicators, except that it has an 'S' on it.

She took the offering from him and fixed it upon the chest piece of the suit she wore. "I will."

The master criminal let silence ring throughout his lair for a moment longer, before interrupting it again. "And last, will you destroy the Teen Titans?"

An image of each individual Teen Titan flashed through her mind briefly. The super teen girl forced these images out of her mind and plastered her face with a look of determination. "I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

The T-Car drove relatively quietly on one of Jump City's many paved streets. There was little to no traffic in this particular area, perhaps because many people were working, at home, or some other reason that people could think of. The Teen Titans' cybernetic member was at the wheel, with their leader in the passenger's seat and Beast Boy between Raven and Starfire in the back. They were all in a generally good mood, until Beast Boy unintentionally decided to change this by opening his mouth to talk.

"Okay, okay, I got one. Why are ducks so funny? Because they're always quackin jokes." He was the only one to laugh at this. Robin and Cyborg moaned and their smiles disappeared.

Raven looked out the window with disgust on her face. "Pull over," she spoke to Cyborg. "I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Oh I see. It is humorous because ducks lack the large brain necessary for the telling of jokes." Starfire giggled a bit as she thought up an explanation.

"Actually Starfire… it just… wasn't humorous," Robin said.

"Because Beast Boy lacks any brain for telling jokes," Raven added in an annoyed voice.

Beast Boy would not be deterred by such words. "Come on Raven, you know I'm hilarious. And I'm not gonna give up until I get you to smile."

"His chances of success are so low he'd have to dig for them," Cyborg muttered to Robin.

"Here's another," the green titan said. "Why did the aardvark cross the road?"

"To beat up the idiot telling jokes about him?" Raven answered as the T-Car stopped at a red light.

Robin and Cyborg laughed heartedly at the jab. "The idiot telling jokes…" Cyborg repeated to himself.

"Now that one's funny," Robin added.

Starfire had a confused look on her face. "Please, an aardvark is some form of duck?" she asked. The other titans sighed at her misunderstanding of such things. Their vehicle moved forward as the traffic light changed to green.

Then all of a sudden, a large boulder slammed into the T-Car's side. Cyborg's creation was hit with such force that it was carried away, rolled over and turned on itself. When it came to a stop, the windows were either cracked or broken, the doors bent, tires unsettled and the rest wasn't really better off. They shook their heads and got themselves right again. The alien girl kicked the remains of the door away and walked out, followed by her teammates who managed to extract themselves from the mess. They all looked in the direction that the projectile had come from, and were treated to the sight of someone they hadn't quite expected to see. "Terra?" Beast Boy spoke up.

There were few things remaining of the girl they remembered from little over a week ago. Apart from the suit with Slade's symbol on the chest, the way she held herself as well as the feeling they got from looking at her practically screamed of ill intent. The sound of her voice only served to deepen such suspicions. "Hey guys, miss me?"

A golden aura surrounded the geokinetic's hands as her powers responded to her commands. She swung her hands over her head and aimed her palms in the Titans' direction. A series of rocks a bit larger than her fists were hurled at them. Though they had enough warning to get out of the way, the T-Car was struck repeatedly by the projectiles, worsening its condition even further. She then commanded the boulder that had first struck to lift in the air and drop on the T-Car, flattening it like a large pancake. A chunk of pavement about two meters wide was ripped out of the street and lifted her up. As she was speeding towards her enemies, Robin shouted his famed battle cry. "Titans, go!"

Beast Boy shifted into a cheetah, Starfire's hands were enveloped with green energy and they all ran at their opponent. Terra's platform flew about a foot above the ground. The street underneath split open in line with her, the fissure created shot out towards the Titans. Fortunately, they were too good to be stopped by such, even when a large pillar of earth erupted from it. Beast Boy, Cyborg and Starfire were running side by side, until another boulder ripped up from the ground sent the alien girl back.

Cyborg fired his sonic cannon in retaliation, though Terra had the foresight to move her foot so the blue beam only cut off a part of the flying rock. Retaining command over the severed part, she swung her hand and the half machine was slammed by what was previously a section of the street. Beast Boy managed to avoid it by jumping in the air and changing into an eagle. He became his more human form when he reached her and held onto the moving stone. "Terra, stop! We're your friends!" he tried to make her see sense.

"We aren't friends anymore, remember?" came the reply. This was followed by Terra swinging her fist in an uppercut that connected with the green teenager's jaw. Starfire had by now recovered and caught him in mid air. The blond girl sped by them with little concern, jumping off her platform and sending it at Robin. He did a back flip and avoided it, but was struck in the back by a different one. A pair of large rocks rose from the ground and hovered over the team leader who struggled to get up.

The boulder resting on the lifeless T-Car was enveloped by the black energy of Raven's telekinesis as the young sorceress in question stared down at Terra. "Don't make me hurt you," she said with more than a touch of anger in her voice.

Terra's expression showed that she was not intimidated by such. "Don't make me laugh." The exterior layer of the boulder that Raven's powers held exploded outward, her control wrenched away by Terra. She then commanded it to fly towards her, along with the others she held, and even though they only landed in front of Raven, she was still sent flying back and landed hard in the ground.

Robin lashed out with his foot, spinning around and swinging at her with a fist. Cyborg joined in from her opposite side, but she managed to avoid their blows and sent them back with a kick to each. The Boy Wonder slid on his back about a foot and then quickly got to his feet, about to engage her again. However, a solid wall of earth rose between the two, so instead he placed a mine of it and stepped back before it exploded, the blast knocking Terra down. "Cyborg, now!"

The cybernetic teen shifted his arm into his sonic cannon and aimed it at the fallen girl. "Sorry kid," he said as it armed it.

But before he had the chance to fire, Terra stabbed the ground with her finger tips and a small fissure shot out from in front of her and behind and travelled towards her two closest opponents. A pillar of earth emerged from both ends and sent the Titans flying in the air. Robin crashed through a hotel's roof and Cyborg startled a couple of people when he landed in an office building.

Raven still lying on the ground, Terra commanded another huge rock to rise in the air and place itself above her. The black energy covered her hand as she went to ward it off, but Starfire beat her to it. She stopped the boulder before it had the chance to drop, her eyes glowing with the same color as the energy that covered her hands and her super alien strength allowed her to carry the heavy load. Beast Boy ran next to Raven to help her to her feet while he had the chance. Starfire then hurled the huge rock towards Terra, who stopped it less than a foot away from her and commanded it to fly back in the opposite direction. The alien girl put her hands together and fired a green beam which tore apart the boulder. This was followed by twin eyebeams that zoomed straight at Terra like an arrow, hitting her in the torso and ploughing her through a few of the pillars that'd previously arisen.

Although she was her enemy, Starfire flew over to the geomancer with concern on her face. "Terra?"

Her eyes shone a bright yellow in response, and her hands were surrounded by an aura of the same color. A blast of earth shot out from underneath Starfire immediately afterwards and sent her back to her friends standing a short distance away. She stood up and faced the former Titan at the same time that Robin and Cyborg rejoined them, all at the ready.

Terra's powers then opened up a multitude of fissures in the street, making it look like a giant spider's web. From these, rose two large earth figures, with pieces of pavement, pipes and a few other kinds of debris on out sticking out of them. The five Titans looked at the creations with surprise, even Raven. "That's a new trick."

"Whoa!" Terra said as she held up her hands and looked at her palms. "How did I…?"

"You didn't," she heard Slade's voice from the small device in her ear. "I did."

"But how…?"

"You new suit is more then just a fashion statement my dear. It is a highly sophisticated neural interface that gives me direct access to your nervous system. Your power is my power, my strength is your strength. We are connected Terra, united as master and apprentice. We fight as one!" Terra pulled her arms back over her head as Slade did the same while in his lair, and then slammed the ground with her fists.

* * *

At the moment, Gale was hardly in a good mood, not that he was often very cheery. This was partly because he was hungry, combined with the fact that he hadn't been able to sleep well and was tired, plus the little interaction he'd had with people hadn't turned out well. Although having people being wary of his appearance and powers was not exactly new to him. He had tried to find somewhere he would be able to get some food without having to go through the reactions he'd cause in many places. Despite what he endured, Gale would never steal, even if he almost felt tempted at times. Just when he'd found a likely place, he was temporarily forced to drop the idea of feeding himself.

His ears picked up a faint scream coming from a distance away. Instantly he abandoned his cover and flew out into the open, speeding towards the place where he'd heard the sound. When he got close enough, he could see fire burning on the two highest floors an abandoned six story apartment style building. There was a boy about 18 years of age frozen outside, staring at the burning complex, a few other people were coming over to see what was happening. The other boy jumped back in fright as Gale flew down to his level, startled by the suddenness of his appearance, as well as his looks. The metahuman thickened the air around the civilian teenager just enough to prevent him from running off so he could ask him a question. "Is there anyone inside?" he spoke in a no-nonsense voice.

"Yes, my three friends. We didn't mean to-" but Gale didn't stay around long enough to hear the rest. He released the teen's invisible bonds and rushed into the burning building. He kept his senses on the highest alert for any trace of the other three people inside.

He kept his wings folded around his back and covered in a shield of air to protect them against the flames as he ran through the place. The first two civilians were trapped in a room on the fifth level, a pair of large flaming wooden beams blocking the doorway. They were a boy and girl a few years older than the one outside, huddled together on the opposite wall that was mostly untouched by fire for the moment. He materialized a transparent sword in his right hand and with two swift, clean and precise strikes, cut through the wood blocking his way. Holding the rest of the blockade with his powers to avoid disturbing it, he dispelled his sword and made his way to the frightened duo.

They barely moved as he approached them. Gale noticed a large window in bad shape in the room with a view of the outside, though being located this high, the fall would likely cause them serious harm should they try to jump, if it didn't just kill them outright. Wasting little time, he grabbed both of them and sent a slightly restrained blast of wind at the window, smashing the glass into a bunch of small pieces. He then went next to the open space where the window had been and threw the boy and girl outside, but not without cushioning the air between them and the ground to slow their descent enough so they'd avoid getting hurt.

Gale didn't wait by the open space to watch them fall, but rather 'tied off' his creation and continued through the burning floors in search of the remaining person. Bits and pieces of material were beginning to fall apart as he made his way through. At one point, a chunk of the ceiling broke off and was about to crash down on his head, but his ears heard it coming beforehand and he cast a barrier above himself, upon which it snapped in two. He then heard the faintest cry for help, at which he was able to determine where the person was located. The lone hero found a young girl about his own age with her left leg pinned to the floor by another wooden beam. Thankfully, it wasn't burning her, even though she was still likely to have suffered damage. He instantly formed a sheet of air around her leg and again materialized his sword. He cut the beam apart and pushed the remainders away. Gale then picked up the girl and held her around the waist, even if she protested at being carried like this.

He ignored her complaints and instead blew a wide hole in the roof directly above them. He leapt off the ground and flew upward through the new exit as the floor was collapsing underneath them. When they reached open sky, the top part of the building flattened, though the remainder of it was strong enough to support the weight. Gale reached ground level and passed the injured girl to her friends. "You stupid chump, I almost died in there!" she pointed to the building he'd gotten her out of. "Why the hell did you take so long to get me out? Huh, huh?" Gale simply stared at her blankly.

The other girl and the boys seemed contaminated by her behaviour. "Yeah! And what's with the idea of chucking us out the window like that?" the couple asked accusingly.

"I bet you're not even a real hero. You're probably just some stupid freak show." They all gave his appearance looks that were disapproving to say the least.

Gale repressed a sigh. "You're welcome." His voice leaked no emotions, but it was threaded with sarcasm. Before any more words could be exchanged, Gale put a gloved hand to his chest, as if he could feel something but it didn't quite hurt. He turned his back to the people and looked to the distance where there was a surge of power that called to him. Intrigued by this and having no reason to stay and listen to a bunch of ungrateful young adults, he returned all the surrounding air to its normal state, spread his wings and flew off, focusing on whatever it was he felt.

* * *

Terra was smiling with a self-assured expression on her face. The two earth creatures Slade had conjured with the help of her powers were still standing tall despite the Titans' efforts to get rid of them. She herself was standing a distance from the fight, though she was concentrated on manipulating the golems. One of them swung repeatedly at Robin, but he was able to avoid its moves and jumped on its back. He went to reach for his belt for some weapon, but the animated chunk of earth bent its arms at an otherwise impossible angle, carried him off and pinned him to the ground. As it went to deal a blow with its other arm, the limb was severed by a sonic blast. Cyborg came charging in afterwards and slammed the enemy into the ground where it disappeared. A pair of arms re-emerged, wrapped themselves around the half-metal teen and held him in a bear hug. He shifted his right arm into a saw and freed himself from the abomination.

Beast Boy, in the form of an akylosaurus, spun around, attempting to bring his tail about to smash into the second creature. This was stopped when it plunged its arm into the ground and shot a geyser of earth from underneath the shape-shifter and caused him to hit one of the store walls, the impact shattering the window.

Seeing his friends being beaten like this, Robin called out the retreat. "Titans, fall back." To provide cover, he hurled three disks at Terra. They exploded in a flash near the geomancer, creating a smokescreen around and disrupting her concentration. The two earth creatures crumbled to dust as a result of such. "You heard me," he said to the other Titans. "Fall back!" He punctuated his statement by throwing a small pellet at his feet, creating a second smokescreen which surrounded himself and his friends, providing them with a chance to escape. Terra rose high on a pillar of earth in time to see Beast Boy look at her with sadness in his eyes, before he disappeared in the smoke with the other Titans.

The cover faded not too long afterwards, but when it did, Terra was the only one in the surroundings. "They're gone master. Probably retreated back to Titans' Tower. No one else around but me."

"You sure about that?" Terra turned around in the direction that the voice had come from. She had just enough time to see a figure with wings flying towards her. Gale folded his wings around his back, did a flip in mid-air so that his feet were in front and slammed into the blond girl before she was able to stop him.

She fell off of her perch, but as she dropped towards the ground, she brought up a pair of small rocks which she held onto with her hands, before letting them go after raising a boulder from her fight with the Titans. The two elemental metahumans stared at each other for a short moment. Gale, his arms crossed and wings expanded to their full length as he hovered in mid-air, and Terra, standing on a boulder which her powers held high firmly, as well as one more nearby. "Terra," Gale said simply.

"Gale," she replied.

"Strange, I don't recall telling my name to anyone but Raven. And I doubt she would've taken the time to tell you, especially after you betrayed her and the other Titans in favor of Slade."

"What do you know about it?" she asked in an accusing manner.

"Terra, be careful. I intend to have him join us yet," Slade spoke through her earpiece.

The geomancer took a few deep breaths to calm herself. "You know, Slade is prepared to-"

"No," Gale interrupted.

"What?"

"I won't be joining up with Slade anytime soon, or ever." He gave her a piercing stare. As he did so, he felt himself overcome with an inexplicable urge. "**Vestri facina dedecus the matris' memoria!**" Gale heard himself say those words, but felt almost as if he had been watching from the back of his mind as someone else was speaking.

For some reason, Terra recoiled, seemingly struck by what he'd said. Then as if unable to bear hearing another accusation, she commanded the boulder she held aside to slam into Gale. His eyes saw the movements soon enough to give him ample warning. He sent a wave of air that sliced the projectile vertically in two and carried on towards Terra. Gale was about to materialize a shield to ward off a smaller rock aimed at him, while Terra was going to raise a barrier from the ground. Neither of these actions turned out to be necessary, for the offensive manoeuvres that they would have protected against simply broke apart before reaching their intended targets.

Both the winged boy and suited girl stared at each other, surprised at the unexpected turn of events, though he managed to hide it better. "What are you doing Terra?" Slade's voice said in her ear. "What just happened?"

"I… I don't know," she answered. "My powers… they couldn't touch him, and it looks like he's got the same problem with me." She tried to concentrate her powers in an effort to strike him. Gale simply hovered in mid air with his arms crossed as another rock flew in his direction, only to fall to the ground as Terra's control over it slipped away like a bar of soap in her hands.

"Can't quite say I expected this whole thing to develop like this," Gale said.

She could almost hear Slade musing to himself from the other end of the line. "Leave him be and come back now. I'll see to it he's taken care of."

"Until next time." As Terra was flying away on her improvised platform, the image of a woman outlined in an earthen brown color flashed through Gale's mind. He couldn't help but feel that there was a certain similarity between the two figures, but he chose to set it aside for the time being.

* * *

Later on, back in their tower, the Titans were silently brooding in the common room over their fight with Terra. For a moment the only sounds that could be heard inside were those of Cyborg removing little shard of rock off of his arms. Eventually he finished this task and chose to break the silence. "I should've blasted her when I had the chance."

"I should've hit her with everything I've got," Raven added.

"Why did I permit her to fool me again?" Even Starfire was grim and sounded depressed.

"Why couldn't we take her down just like any other criminal," Robin spoke up.

"Because, she's not just another criminal, she's Terra," Beast Boy said. "She was a Titan, she was… our friend."

"Terra was never our friend," Raven retorted. "She was a liar and a spy, trained by Slade and sent to destroy us. She's evil. Always has been, always will be."

"You don't know what you're talking about Raven!" Beast Boy snapped. "She's made some serious mistakes, but she's not-"

"Hey man," Cyborg interrupted. "The girl wrecked my car. Seems pretty evil to me."

"This isn't a joke! I knew her better than anyone else! I know all the terrible things she's done and I know exactly how messed up she is. But she's not evil! We can't just give up on her."

Silence followed his tirade before Robin reminded him of one fact. "Beast Boy, she's working for Slade."

"When you were working for Slade, did we give up on you?"

Robin's face remained impassive and expressionless at the reminder of the time he'd been forced into becoming Slade's apprentice. "We'll give her once last chance, but only one. We have to try to break Slade's grip on her and bring her back." The alarm rang throughout the tower, pulling them away from their thoughts and alerting them of something bad going on.

* * *

Slade was watching a computer screen in front of himself that showed him how Terra's task was going on. Through her suit's neural interface, he could tell when she arrived at the prison complex where the three detainees he intended to have freed were being held. She felt the tons upon tons of earth that simply awaited her command. Three pillars arose from the ground, breaking through specific spots and bringing up three prisoners. Terra threw at each of them a disk shaped device similar to the one on the chest piece of her suit. They attached to the monstrous figures known as Plasmus, Overload and Cinderblock. "The first part's done, master."

"Very good Terra," Slade complimented. "The neural remotes are online, Overload, Cinderblock and Plasmus are in my command, and everything is going according to plan." He looked at another screen in front of him which showed a bunch of his robots at the ready. He sent them their commands and they set off to fulfill them.

* * *

All of the Teen Titans were currently on their own ways after the source of the alarm. Cyborg was riding on Beast Boy as a horse, Robin driving the R-Cycle with Starfire flying overhead and Raven was on her own. The team leader went over the details of the situation over their communicators. "We have three escaped criminals attacking three separate targets. Whatever Slade's planning, we have to split up and stop it."

"Robin and I shall defeat Cinderblock," Starfire said.

"I can deal with Overload," Raven added.

"And Beast Boy and I will take Plasmus," Cyborg finished.

"We've also got a band of Sladebots rampaging in the middle of the city," Robin spoke up. "When anyone's finished, go help someone else. We'll just have to hope that the police can handle the Sladebots or that Gale will show up and stop them."

* * *

As of the moment, Gale was trudging through the streets and alleyways of Jump City. Although he felt tired, he couldn't sleep with his mind going over the events of the day. Even if he was no stranger to receiving negative reactions from people, included some of which he saved from danger, it still made him take a look at himself, if briefly. But what really occupied his thoughts, was his encounter with Terra. He had absolutely no clue as to why their powers had failed them when they'd tried to hit the other.

"It had to be something with our powers, seeing as physical contact appears to be an exception," Gale mused to himself. "But what caused them not to work? And why does she seem so familiar, even though I've never met her before?" As he was going over the possibilities, his stomach decided to have a word with him. "Oh shut up you. It's not like I have anything on me." Fortunately, he spotted a small partly eaten blueberry pie simply lying on the ground. He picked it up and devoured the whole thing in a flash.

Immediately after having finished eating, Gale's ears picked up on a police radio. "Attention! A band of Sladebots have been reported in the middle of downtown Main Street." Instantly upon hearing the message, Gale ran out into the open, spread his wings and took flight to go stop the threat.

* * *

Two officers of the police department were standing guard inside the room of one of the city's many different facilities. They were hardly moving, until electricity sparked to life and began to creep around the walls. It made its way to the center of the ceiling, where a large cylindrical piece of equipment was attached to. It crept along the floor to the spot underneath the device. The currents from both ends joined together and formed a white behemoth of electricity with a red and black computer chip hanging in the midst of the whole thing. The two officers raised their laser rifles and fired at the infamous creature. The shots did nothing more than cause it to turn around. Overload raised its arms and the weapons flew out of their owners' hands and were absorbed in his body.

The police ran through the door which closed behind them. No longer paying them any attention, Overload turned back to the device attached to the ceiling. But it was suddenly encased in black energy that surrounded the entire room as well. A black raven like figure rose from the floor and the heroine named after the bird emerged from it. "So, Overload, think you can handle a total blackout?"

The monster shot out its arm, but Raven stopped it with a barrier of black energy. She pushed it forward until sending the electric creature further back. The young sorceress split the shield into four fragments which she hurled at her enemy, though it was able to avoid them. Overload then dove into the floor and made its way to the wall behind Raven where he was able to hit her. She flew back a little, but readjusted herself and continued fighting her opponent.

* * *

Beast Boy and Cyborg were walking through what seemed to be a deserted chemical plant. The cybernetic teen had a light sticking up from his shoulder that helped illuminate their surroundings. They looked around for any trace of the monster, but hadn't seen it yet. They turned back when they heard a bubbling noise, but the only noticeable thing was a glass container with some green liquid. They moved on, but turned back upon hearing a screech. They saw Plasmus standing atop the container they'd just looked at. He reared back and spat a stream of green liquid at the two of them, but they ducked to the side and it sprayed the base of a large metal piece, dissolving the bottom and causing it to fall over.

The purple monster then spat shots at Cyborg. Though he didn't quite have the same agility that Robin did, he performed a series of acrobatic moves that did the job of avoiding taking a hit. He landed next to his green partner who shifted from a cheetah to his normal form. "Great," he said sarcastically. "Now he spits acid."

"Let's just get this over with." Beast Boy followed up by turning into a Pterodactyl, grabbing his friend by the shoulders and lifting him in the air. Plasmus fired off a few blast of green acid at them, but Beast Boy flew out of their way. Cyborg retaliated by shooting a beam from his sonic cannon which caused a wide hole in his enemy's center. Beast Boy let him drop and he went through the hole which he'd made, but when he and Plasmus turned around to face each other, Cyborg saw Beast Boy trapped in one of the green bubbles that covered most of the purple creature's head.

The green boy pushed against his prison with his hands, and when it had no effect, he concentrated and began to grow bigger, stretching the bubble until he broke out as a T-Rex. His sudden growth caused Plasmus to fall back and him to fall forward, changing to his normal form so Cyborg could easily catch him. Both of them were standing straight soon and fought on with the same intensity.

* * *

In an open pit mine, Robin and Starfire were fighting against Cinderblock. As he usually was, the stone behemoth was proving to not be pushover for the Titans. He picked up a large transport truck, making it seem as easy as a child picking up a small toy car. He hefted it above his head and hurled in at Robin. The Boy Wonder shot out his grapple that hooked onto a crane and pulled himself out of the way as the truck landed where he'd previously been standing. He swung around the crane's arm and landed his metal soled boots on Cinderblock's face. The giant was forced back from the impact, but shook his head and let out a growl before charging at Robin like an enraged bull.

The Titan leader stood still as his enemy ran towards him. Just before he came too close, he jumped high in the air and Starfire came through, slamming a starbolt covered fist on Cinderblock's chest, her alien strength sending him flying into the crane holding a bunch of metal beams. He looked up in time to see them all come crashing down in his face. Enraged further, he roared as he got up and ripped off the crane's arm which he swung in a downward arc at Starfire.

She held her hands over her head, the stone monster's weapon cutting in two upon contact with the starbolts. Cinderblock managed to grab Starfire in his wide hands just after such. She struggled briefly and swung her leg at him, but he released her and took the brunt of the impact with the palms of his hands. A disk went off on his face with a flash, causing his vision to blur, courtesy of Robin. This was followed by the young man landing his foot on his face, sending him crashing against the opposite wall.

"He is… unquestionably persistent," Starfire commented as their enemy was coming to its feet.

"But why?" Robin wondered. "There's nothing to capture, nothing to steal. Why would Slade send him here?" Both Titans readied themselves as Cinderblock rose and charged them once again.

* * *

Gale flew straight towards his destination, hunger and tiredness set aside, but replaced with adrenaline and determination. When he got close enough, he could see a band of almost ten Sladebots shooting at everything in sight. Although there seemed to be extensive damage, there appeared to be no casualties yet. Apart from the humanoid robots, there was an eleventh figure standing near them. He could distinguish the muscular build, black and gray body armor and one eyed orange mask. Gale angled his flight path so that he was aimed right in the direction of the robots.

Like he'd done against Johnny Rancid, he spun around himself, creating a whirlwind that went crashing into the midst of Sladebots. Knowing that his enemies weren't human, Gale placed no restraints on himself, so his attack destroyed them all, except for the masked figure and a few of the robots that moved away in time. The faceless androids were granted only a slight reprieve, as Gale stopped his particular move and materialized a sword in his hand while flying towards them. He passed them on his right and slashed with his weapon, cutting them in half at waist level.

The winged metahuman landed on the ground and turned to face the tall man who looked at him with an appraising eye. "Well done," he said. "I must say, your power and skills are impressive."

"Slade?"

"But of course. And you're Gale."

The teenager in question frowned slightly. "What do you want?"

"You," he said simply. "You could do well alongside Terra as my apprentice, who, I believe you've already met."

"That I have," Gale replied in a blank voice.

"With your powers and hers together, you could bring the city to its knees in no time. You could have whatever you wanted, so long as you simply agree to serve me."

"I'm sorry, but no." The tone of his voice indicated that he was not the least bit sorry.

"Are you sure of that? I know how you've been alone all this time. No one wants to be your friend, to look past your appearance. Even the people you've saved don't care for you. But join me, and you can make those ungrateful wretches pay for how they treated you. They will bow before you and you won't have to fear anything at all."

Gale gave Slade a cold and piercing stare, a look which would have quite a few people shaking in fright or running away. "No. I may have been alone for long, I may save people who have a hard time expressing gratitude and I may not get much in return, but I won't turn my back on those who need me. I help people because I must, and that's that. Oh, and in case Slade isn't listening in on this conversation, you can go tell him what I think about his little offer."

"What are you saying?"

"You may be talking, but you aren't breathing."

The Sladelike robot didn't react to the fact that Gale had uncovered its nature. It stood impassively, then all of a sudden, it pressed a small button on its arm and a tiny beep resounded from it. Gale hastily surrounded himself within a dome of air, and just in time to ward off the robot's explosion. Pieces and debris scattered, some of them bouncing off the dome. Gale dispersed his protection and looked over the remains of his enemies. His thoughts were interrupted when he was struck by close to three dozen laser blasts, each of them hitting him in the back and causing him no small amount of pain. Gritting his teeth, he turned around, and with his sharp eyes spotted a large amount of Sladebots like the ones he'd just destroyed who were located a fair distance away at a high up position. Ignoring all his body's complaints, he spread his wings again and propelled himself towards the other enemies.

* * *

Raven's fight with Overload had dragged on for a bit, until she found herself with her back to a wall and the enemy in front. She put her hand against the wall and concentrated her powers. Pipes burst through, dousing the electric creation with jets of water. It was forced back to the middle of the room, where it was hit with jets of water from a multitude of erupting pipes all around. In a short moment, it had been reduced to its primary computer chip. Raven walked up to it. "What is your mission?" she asked. "Why are you-?" her questioning was cut short when she was sent into the wall by a blast of muddy water.

When she looked up, Raven could see Terra walking towards the middle of the room, her powers spreading apart the water that was now brown and laden with earth. "Hello! Does the word decoy mean anything to you? We had to find someway to coax you cowards out of hiding."

Raven's hands were covered in the black energy of her telekinesis as she stared down her former friend. "Terra," she said simply.

"Raven."

"Traitor."

"Witch." Her eyes glowed yellow and she rushed forward on a wave of muddy water as Raven came to meet her. The two girls threw a few punches at each other until Raven batted aside Terra's arm and kicked her in the face, sending her down to the mud covered floor. The geomancer, now as filthy as Raven, rose on a pillar of earth and dived at the sorceress. She emerged from the water holding Raven's hair, but was sent flying back by an energy enhanced fist.

Raven dove at her foe and held her pinned underneath the muddy water, but it started to bubble and she was thrown back when one blew up, though she managed to right herself in the air. Terra then slapped the floor with her hands, extracting the earth and amassing it into half a dozen arrowhead stones. They shot towards the dark teen who put a metal plate in front of her to deflect them and sent it flying at Terra. The earth controlling metahuman raised a wall of earth that the top part broke off upon being impacted, but managed to stop the projectile.

Terra reshaped that part of her defense into a large fist which went to knock out Raven, but she formed a curved wave of energy which sliced in two, both halves going past either side of her. She then turned her hand towards the large cylindrical device in the center of the room and it was covered in black energy. Terra formed a platform of earth underneath her feet as the giant object was pulled off of the ceiling. She moved away from her previous position when it was sent towards her, though its explosion obscured Raven's view of her.

The sorceress looked for her enemy, but as she did, she was knocked down by a big hammer that had formed behind her. The two girls emerged from the floor, Terra standing on a platform of earth. "You know Raven, I never liked you."

"I never even wanted to know you," she said while standing up. "You may have fooled the others, but I always knew you were a liar."

"Oh really? Terra said in mock surprise. She took the earth off of herself with her powers and formed a little ball as she continued speaking. "Is that why you let me live in your house, and steal all your secrets, and-"

"Shut up!" Raven followed up by sending a wave towards Terra who simply willed it to split in front of her. She retaliated by sending four jets of earthen water at Raven, and though she conjured a shield, they simply went around it and struck her.

"Good Terra," Slade spoke into her ear. "You know her weakness, exploit it."

"You're not getting mad, are you Rae? Better be careful, Beast Boy told me all about your little temper tantrums." To punctuate this, she formed the ball of earth floating beside her to look like Raven's head with an angry expression.

"Anger is pointless, my emotions are under control."

"Mehmehmeh, anger is pointless," she spoke with a mocking tone. "And you're calling me a liar?" Raven ran towards her, but an arm rose from the ground and tripped her. "Come on Raven," she said as she descended towards her level. "What stings the most? That I tricked you? That I nearly wiped out your team? That everyone liked me better than you?"

"Stop it!" Raven said as she was being encased by earth.

"Or was it that deep down you really believed I was your friend?"

Raven raised her head, her face now had four eyes that glowed red. She grew to a height that reached in the ceiling and towered over Terra. "I trusted you!" Her tone was obviously angry and she was throwing everything possible at her enemy, who couldn't help but be a bit intimidated by the display of rage. "We trusted you! We gave you everything and you treated us like dirt!"

Terra was forced against the wall in order to avoid the onslaught. The gigantic Raven's advance was cut short when she was swamped by a multitude of earthen arms that pulled down on her. "Finish her," Slade ordered.

Raven struggled to no avail, for despite her anger, she was dragged down. Her face reverted to its normal state, showing surprise before she was completely submerged. "Who's in control now?"

* * *

Back at the mine, Robin, Starfire and Cinderblock had reached the higher levels. The stone giant shook off the effect of a Starbolt that had just connected with his face and his vision cleared up in time to see the two Titans teaming up on him. As they both rushed him, Starfire grabbed Robin's arm and spun him around so that he delivered a powerful kick which sent the behemoth crashing into the middle of the mine. "Victory at last," Starfire said when their opponent stayed down.

"Now we can concentrate on saving Ter-" Starfire pushed him out of the way when she saw a rock about to crash into them. This saved him from harm, but rendered her unconscious and tumbling towards the water below. "Starfire!" Robin yelled. He turned upon hearing a maniacal laughter and saw Terra standing on top of Cinderblock's slumped body as she was flying away.

* * *

Gale flew high in the air as he ducked and weaved his way around the Sladebots' fire. Despite his injuries, he had managed to eliminate all but the five remaining ones. He knew that he needed to finish them as soon as possible, since he could feel weariness beginning to creep up on him. He started to fly higher and higher, until reaching a point where they could no longer see him. Then, like an eagle descending on its prey, he dove down at the hostile robots. When he got within a short distance of them, he did a flip and solidified the air around his outstretched foot so that it looked like a bird's talon. This tore across three of the Sladebots. Before the others had the time to react, he turned around and sent a wave of air that sliced them cleanly in two.

As Gale saw his work done for now, his adrenaline rush started to fade away. But it didn't leave just like that, for weariness, hunger and pain all came crashing down on him in torrents. He found himself overwhelmed by such and couldn't maintain his flight. He feebly tried to slow his descent, but didn't manage anything significant. When he hit the ground, an audible crack and searing pain in his right wing indicated that it was broken. Having a hard time remaining conscious, the injured hero bore it as best he could and limped/dragged himself away from the scene.

* * *

After a long fight, Plasmus was not yet defeated, but still was on its hands and knees, breathing hard. Beast Boy was a tiger next to Cyborg who stood like a gladiator about to deliver the killing blow to his opponent. He armed his sonic cannon and aimed it at the purple monster, but before he could shoot, the floor underneath them started to tremble. A fissure appeared at their feet and grew too large faster than they could get away. As the half-metal teen was falling through, he shot out his hand as a grapple. Unfortunately, its grip was lost when the surface under it split, causing Cyborg to fall away into the darkness.

Beast Boy shifted into his usual form and managed to hold himself just below the ledge. He looked up, and gasped when he saw Terra standing over him. "Hope you're not expecting a goodbye kiss."

"Terra… you can't."

"Just watch me." Her eyes glowed yellow and the green boy had to let go when the fissure he was trapped in began to close.

* * *

Slade was looking over the defenders of Jump City's final moments displayed on a bunch of computer screens before him. Cyborg's fall into darkness, Raven as she was pulled underneath the muddy water, Starfire falling unconscious towards the ocean, Beast Boy's last words before disappearing from sight, and Gale with his broken wing. "Pity this had to happen," he said as he looked at the last screen and then spoke to his apprentice. "Excellent work Terra. I couldn't have done all this without you. But, our conquest is not yet complete."

"I know," came the reply. "Five heroes down, one to go."

"I await your triumphant return."

* * *

Terra walked away from the chemical facility where she'd just buried Cyborg and Beast Boy. She raised her head upon hearing the noise of a motor and saw Robin sailing overhead on the R-Cycle. The Titan in question ditched his helmet, flipped off of his vehicle and dove down at Terra in one swift movement. He held her arms pinned against her sides despite her struggling. "Do… not… move."

"What's the matter Robin? Feeling lonely since I exterminated all your friends?"

"They were your friends too."

"I don't need any friends."

"What did we ever do to make you hate us so much?"

"You were born." The ground just underneath them exploded and forced both of them away from each other. They each landed smoothly and stared down the other.

"I promised Beast Boy I'd give you one last chance. And this is it." The Boy Wonder ran full speed at Terra. They exchanged a few punches, none managing to hit the other. Robin dodged one of Terra's swings, causing her to overshoot herself, grabbed her around the waist and tossed her back, though she managed to land on her feet.

"By the way, don't expect any help from Gale, because he's also been taken out of the equation."

"Why?"

"Because, he wasn't with us, so he was against us." She didn't allow him the time to respond to this and lifted a rock from underneath her and used it to propel herself forward and land a flying kick on Robin.

He managed to stay on his feet and was ready when Terra came charging at him. Like before, they threw a couple of punches until Terra overextended herself. Robin grabbed her arm and swung her around so that her face was held against the metal grid surrounding the chemical facility. "Look at yourself Terra. Is this really what you wanna be?"

She twisted herself around and put Robin in her place. "I'm just never gonna be good enough for you, am I," she replied angrily.

He jumped up against the grid and flipped himself so that he was behind her again. She rose high on a pillar of earth and briefly stared down at her opponent. The tower along with Terra started to advance on Robin who wasted no time in running away. As he was running, he jumped in the air, did a front flip and twisted himself so that he was facing Terra. At the same time he was doing this, he hurled an exploding disk which blew up just beneath Terra's feet and sent her falling to the ground. She landed on her back and stopped the shattered remnants of the pillar from landing on her. "You don't belong with Slade," Robin said as she got up.

"You don't know anything about me." She then aimed the rocks floating around her towards Robin. He ran to meet the onslaught, drawing his staff as he did. He smashed a few of the first ones and jumped over the others, descending on Terra with a strike of his weapon.

She was knocked on her back as a result of this and Robin held the end of his staff pointed at her. "It doesn't have to be this way Terra. I was Slade's apprentice once, I got out, so can you."

"I don't need you to save me."

"You can only save yourself."

"I don't need saving!" She did a half handspring and knocked Robin's staff out of his hands then kicked him in the chest. He landed on his hands and flipped himself up. "I'm not some sad little girl who's waiting to be rescued," Terra spoke as she was moving towards him, the ground shaking at the same time. "I wanted to be this way. I wanted to go with Slade. I wanted to annihilate you and your pathetic friends!" She sent a rock flying at him that made him fall to his hands and knees. Another one right after flung him on his back. "And now, I never want to see your face again." She brought her hands down, causing a last boulder to come crashing towards him.

* * *

Back in Slade's hideout, the master criminal was accompanied by Plasmus, Cinderblock and Overload. He smiled to himself when Terra came in and tossed him an emblem with an 'R' on it. He recognized who it had belonged to before picking it up. "You see my dear apprentice, now that you belong to me, the city belongs to us." The former Titan looked up at him and smiled a little.

* * *

After a painful amount of time where he'd dragged himself away from the scene of his last fight, Gale found himself in some abandoned complex that looked like a broken down factory of some sort. He slumped down on the floor and forced himself to remain awake long enough to perform the task he knew he should. He reached behind his back with his hands to his right wing. He found the spot where it was broken and created a gag of air around his mouth and bit hard on it as he braced himself. In one swift movement, Gale snapped the bone into place, the pain he felt almost making him faint and cry out, though the gag prevented the latter as well as him biting his tongue. He quickly dispersed the gag, formed a brace around his wing and with this done, he collapsed then and there.

* * *

Somewhere in the dark undergrounds of Jump City, a bunch of shadowy figures could barely be distinguished amidst the darkness. A dim green light came into existence around them, casting just enough illumination for four of the Titans to identify each other. They all gave a quick recollection of what had happened to them, though they'd be able to get the general idea without it. All of them had serious expressions on their faces as silence reigned for a bit afterwards. "No more chances," Cyborg broke the silence

"No more trust," Starfire added.

"And no more mercy," Raven said.

"She's just another criminal," Beast Boy pitched in.

"And we're going to stop her." The four of them turned in the direction of the voice and were surprised to see Robin alive, if a little beaten up. "No matter what it takes."

* * *

Hope you liked it, and please don't hesitate to let me know what you thought about it (review). I know I told a few people there'd be a meeting with Gale and Slade, but I felt it wasn't really like him to appear in person like that, so I put a robot in his place. I'll be taking a break from this fic after the next chapter to work on one of my other ones. Till next!


	6. Aftershock  Part 2

Disclaimer: *Add what I usually write here*

Like last chapter, this one contains load of action scenes above all else. And like I've said to some people, Gale will be fighting alongside the Titans. But, he won't be joining them, yet. Anyway, enjoy!

By the way, I'm half lazy when it comes to mistakes, so I'll be correcting them when ever I happen to find them.

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Aftershock - Part 2**

Jump City was now deserted. Not a soul could be seen in the usually bustling metropolis. Even the animals that occasionally showed themselves in the area refrained from doing so, as if they could sense the mood. An eerie gray fog was draped over the place like a blanket. Vehicles were abandoned on the road, buildings looked abandoned, payphone receivers hung limply and just about everything else gave off a depressing vibe. Legions upon legions of robots either marched along the streets or stood at the side. There were Sladebots and another simpler and bulkier type vaguely shaped like a human but with no real discernable features.

The former Titan Terra was at the head of a band of the latter type of robots, hovering on a rock as they marched behind her. "A world without Titans," Slade spoke to himself and Terra through her earpiece. "I was beginning to think that I'd never see the day. But at long last, the city is ours, and victory is mine. Fine work apprentice. You have made me very proud."

"Thanks, it was fun." A memory of eating at a pizza place with the Titans flashed through Terra's mind as she passed by it. "Sector five is secure," she said, dismissing the memory. "Pretty quiet up here since all the people moved out."

"Get used to it my dear. This city is only the first of many."

"I know." She flew over the streets without disturbance, except for another flashback of one time when they'd foiled Mumbo's attempt at robbing a bank. She went on like this for some time, barely making a noise more than the robots standing on the side of the street, the only difference being her light breathing. A third memory resurfaced, this one of a particular walk in the park with only her and Beast Boy. She went on like this. Glimpsing a few seemingly distant memories as she continued in the direction of Titans' Tower.

* * *

Gale's vision began to return to him a he started to wake up. He was lying on the floor of the factory building where he'd passed out after having realigned his broken wing. It didn't hurt so much at the moment, but he couldn't risk moving it too much with its current condition and causing further injury. Fortunately though, the brace he'd conjured prevented his wing from damaging itself, even if it held it in an unusual manner. His sight went from a bit dimmed to its usual peak condition in a short time while his other senses followed the example.

As Gale was slowly getting to his feet, he could hear a faint noise from the ground somewhere in the area. He closed his eyes and concentrated singularly on his sense of hearing. This allowed him to realize the sounds he could hear were voices and he was able to distinguish what they were saying. "Slade will probably have taken over the city by now," someone said.

"We have to find Terra first," another voice spoke up. "Then we'll get to Slade and we'll be able to stop him."

"Cyborg, any idea where we're at now?"

"Just a sec… yeah, I got it. We're underneath some abandoned factory on the edge of the industrial district."

"Then let us get out of here."

Gale recognized three of the voices as belonging to Robin, Beast Boy and Raven. The others he could only assume were Cyborg and Starfire. He made his way to the spot where he calculated the Titans would be underneath. "Can any of you hear me?"

A momentary silence was present until Robin's voice spoke up. "Gale?" he said with a touch of surprise.

"Yeah, that's me. Listen, I'll weaken a part of the floor and you guys can break through after. Ok?"

"Ok." Gale concentrated momentarily before directing his powers exactly as intended. He forced the air to push down on a specific part of the floor near him in a circle of more or less two meters in diameter. The pressure accumulated until a deep spider web of cracks began to form in the designated spot. Judging that he'd done enough, Gale stopped this and let the Titans do the rest.

The floor where Gale had targeted his efforts broke outward when three separate beams of blue, green and black energy shattered it apart. The Titans came out through the hole soon after, Starfire carrying Robin, Raven bringing up Cyborg with her powers, and Beast Boy as a hummingbird. He shifted into his normal form after his friends came out fully and all stood facing their winged ally. Raven frowned with a concerned expression on her face when she noticed the position of Gale's right wing. "Your wing…" she began.

"Is not important right now," he interrupted.

"I heard from Terra that you were done for," Robin said.

"Closer than I preferred, but no. Speaking of which, Slade and Terra are waiting."

"Can you fight?" Robin asked.

"I'll be fine," Gale answered. "Just one thing… I can't fight against Terra at full capacity. For some reason our powers can't touch the other, so you guys will mostly have to take care of her."

Robin raised a questioning eyebrow, but refrained from prodding further into the subject. "Fine, let's move out everyone."

* * *

Terra continued to float silently on the boulder while she moved forward with the robots accompanying her. Eventually after a while of going on like this, she stopped a distance from the edge of the water where she had a clear view of Titan's Tower. She contemplated the sight before her a bit. "Well, we did it. They're finally gone."

As if to mock her words, black tendrils emerged from the ground and wrapped around one of the robots, smashing it against the pavement. An exploding disk aimed with extraordinary precision detonated on the center of another one. The third was blown apart by a beam of sonic energy and the fourth was ripped apart by a series of razor sharp gusts of wind. Terra found herself flung off of her perch and onto the ground when it was hit with a well placed starbolt. She struggled to get up and propped herself on her elbows. "Apprentice, report," Slade's voice spoke in her ear. "What's going on?"

"I don't-" but she stopped her sentence mid way when she was the sight before her. Six silhouettes stood tall in the fog nearby. Even though she couldn't see anymore than their outlines, she could feel their eyes staring directly at her. "No! This can't be! You're all…"

"Terra, attack now!" Her hands and eyes glowed yellow as she commanded dust and debris to bunch together into a column which she launched at the figures standing opposite her. When it cleared up, she could only see an upturned car in bad condition. She got up and backed away, a touch of fear marring her face. She stayed unmoving, listening for any sounds around her. She could faintly hear animalistic breathing followed by someone running, though she couldn't see the one responsible. She was suddenly sent sprawling forward as a result of a hard metal fist connecting with her back. Cyborg had been able to charge in with such stealth partly thanks to Gale who'd made a padding of air around his feet, drastically reducing the amount of noise his steps made.

Terra got to her feet soon, but only to be hit in the side with a beam of green energy which hurled her a dozen meters like a rag doll. She managed to get to her knees and froze for a split second when she saw the looming figures of Beast Boy, Raven and Gale standing nearby. She hastily commanded a pillar of earth to rise from underneath her and lift her away from them, but this move proved useless as she was brought back down to ground when a brick thrown by a flow of wind knocked her off, though she managed to land on her feet. Robin's caped outline jumped high in the air and a handful of little balls flew from him. Terra raised a wall of earth in front of her upon which they exploded, but left her side unprotected, allowing her to be struck by a shot from Cyborg's sonic cannon.

Slade's voice spoke from her earpiece as she was lying on her stomach. "On your feet Terra. Your suit's neural interface allows me to assist you in combat, but I can only help if you get up and fight." She stood up once more as Cyborg was charging in at her. Just as he got within a few feet of her, a bunch of rocks rose around her, surrounded by a column of bright yellow, the whole thing forcing Cyborg back. A large black claw emerged from the ground and gripped Terra. An enormous raven like bird made of Raven's telekinetic energy with red eyes screeched as it pulled her in the air. Terra freed herself from its hold by ripping a piece of pavement from the street and using it to carry her away. But her opponents would not let her get away so easily, a fact that was proven once again when Starfire shoulder slammed her off her perch to the ground.

The silhouette of a shaggy wolf greeted her when she landed, growling menacingly at her. "Beast Boy, Beast Boy, stop! Aren't you even gonna talk to me?"

The vague outlines of the other Titans and Gale came near, forming a circle around her. "There's nothing left to say," Cyborg answered.

"You attempted to annihilate us," Starfire pointed out.

"Did you think we wouldn't take it personally?" Raven added.

"It's over Terra," Robin spoke up. Gale said nothing and even though the fog masked his face, the geomancer could feel his accusing stare aimed directly at her. Terra looked around with fear, and suddenly pulled out another piece of the street with which she flew over and out of the fog.

"She seems quite scared," Starfire commented.

"Scared isn't the same as sorry," Raven said.

"I don't care how she feels," Robin pitched in. "Terra's a dangerous criminal and she has to be stopped."

"She will be, I'll make sure of it," Beast Boy said.

A light noise from Cyborg's right arm caught his attention. "I've got a lock," he announced. "She's headed east." He spared a glance for Gale who was standing next to him. "You gonna be ok dude?"

He kept the same serious expression on his face which was reflected in the tone of his voice. "Let's just get this over with." To add to his words, Gale commanded a wind to arise and blow all the fog away from the surrounding area.

Having managed to distance herself from the Titans and Gale, Terra sought momentary refuge in an alleyway. She leaned her back against the wall as she tried to catch her breath. "Where do you think you're going young lady?" Slade asked.

"Anywhere! I was getting thrashed, I had to get away!"

"No! I will not tolerate failure apprentice, I will not permit you to run away! You will stay, you will fight, and you will win!"

Terra looked out into the street, nervous when she saw the surrounding fog was no longer there. She took a step out and looked down one end of the street, then the other. She only had a split second notice before Cyborg ran into her like a mad bull. She was pushed back, but managed to land on her feet and ripped a pair of boulders out of the ground. Those she hurled at the incoming Cyborg and Raven, though the robotic teen simply punched through one without breaking a stride. The one aimed for Raven was halted by a gauntlet of air before Gale let it go when it was surrounded by black energy and hurled back at Terra.

The boulder broke apart on the ground where Terra had been before doing a back flip to avoid it. She landed on one of the pieces and flew high in order to avoid a shot from Cyborg's sonic cannon. Starfire came flying down at her, her fist crashing through Terra's perch when she jumped off. The geomancer ripped another out of the street and took off upon landing. Robin then shot out his grapple which wrapped around Terra and he pulled her down. As she was falling towards him, the rope let go and Robin lashed out with a flying kick that sent her crashing into a brick wall.

Terra raised a part of the street underneath her so that she could jump over Robin. She was then hit in her side with a salve of starbolts. She continued to be tossed about when Gale came running at her from the opposite direction she'd been hit, jumped up and connected with a drop kick, though using his powers to land on his feet and keep his bad wing safe. Going further in this theme, Gale's move had pushed her towards Cyborg who fired his sonic cannon, hitting her square in the chest and flinging her a ways back over Gale's head. Terra's eyes widened and she let out a gasp just before an entire bus came crashing down on where she was lying, courtesy of Raven's powers.

Gale raised an eyebrow as he stood next to the young sorceress. "Overkill?" he asked.

They both turned around and saw Terra emerging from the ground and taking to the air on yet another chunk of earth. "Apparently not," she replied in the same neutral tone of voice.

Terra ducked her head when Beast Boy dived at her in the form of a Pterodactyl. He spun about and continued pursuing her. She brought up a couple of pillars from the ground, but Beast Boy moved around them until flying into the third. She looked back and to her horror, she saw that all of her opponents were already chasing after her again. "Slade, help! I can't do this alone!"

"Dear child, you are never alone," he said.

The Titans and Gale were forced to halt when the ground between them and Terra burst open, from which came an electrical bubble with three figures inside that blocked the way. "Anyone care to enlighten me?" Gale asked.

"Overload, Cinderblock and Plasmus," Robin explained. "And they're not friendly."

"Didn't think so."

The electrical barrier rose in the air as the three monsters then began to twirl around one another. It suddenly exploded into a bright pillar at which the super teen averted their eyes. When they looked again, instead of the three previous creatures, there stood only one. Its body was built around that of Cinderblock, with most of it covered with the remains of Plasmus and Overload. "And I thought they were ugly before," Cyborg commented.

Robin was not long in waiting to give his famed battle cry, though he adapted it to include their ally. "Titans, Gale, let's go!"

* * *

Terra had finally rejoined Slade in his hideout. When she entered the room she knew he'd be in, she found him standing with his back to her. "Slade, I made it, I'm alive. I can't believe they almost beat me."

Slade suddenly turned around and backhanded her so hard that she was sent into the wall with a cry of surprise and pain. Terra gasped when she saw Slade looking down at her. "That was nothing, compared with what I'm going to do to you."

* * *

The young heroes' newest enemy extended its right arm and slammed in into their midst. Though they mostly managed to avoid it, the impact on the ground knocked Cyborg back. Robin retaliated by jumping in the air and throwing a handful of small globes which exploded on the middle of monstrosity's 'face'. It gave a cry of what could be perceived as pain and fell to one knee. It didn't stay like this for long, but rather shot out three tentacles from its body which wrapped themselves around Robin. Electricity then coursed from the creature, through the limbs and into Robin. Starfire flew up and severed the appendages with her eyebeams.

Raven followed this by picking up a nearby car with her powers and hurling it at their enemy. The impact caused it to explode, but the monster hardly seemed fazed and charged again. Gale held his hands in front of himself and commanded a restrained blast of wind to push the creature back at the same time that Cyborg fired his sonic cannon and Starfire her eyebeams. Their combined efforts caused it to fall over, but in retaliation, it got up and swept its arms out at them, catching Cyborg full face and momentarily forcing the others to stop their offensive in order to avoid it.

Cyborg was sent crashing into a wall a ways back and stood got up to see a big gray robot moving towards him. It swung its arm and him, but he caught the offending limb and he spun about, slamming the full robot into the wall he'd previously been at. He then plunged his fist into its center and pulled out its power core. Laser fire from an advancing group of Sladebots rang out and he smiled to himself. Like a baseball pitcher, he threw the ticking core in his hand which exploded in the midst of the Sladebots. He dusted off his hands, but failed to notice the larger robot until it was pinning him against the wall with one of its clawlike hands. The half metal teenager struggled to get free, but he was saved from his predicament when a green T-Rex picked up the gray robot in its mouth and easily crushed it. "Where's Terra?" Beast Boy asked after having reverted to his normal form.

"What's the matter? A robot army and a giant franken thingy not enough for you?"

"I don't care about them, I want Terra." The green boy shifted into a gorilla in time to deliver a massive punch to an approaching Sladebot. He roared loudly and then ran away to find Terra.

The giant monster swung its arm downward at Gale who formed a dome of air to ward off the blow. Starfire then peppered its face with starbolts while Robin tossed a couple of explosive disks. Its face mended by itself and the creature swung its arms wildly in at the teenagers. One made contact with Robin and sent him crashing into Starfire, another missed Raven and slammed into a building, but a piece of debris from it hit her in the back, knocking her to the ground. She looked up just as the giant was about to deliver a two handed strike, but its body suddenly froze.

Gale was standing behind her with outstretched arms and had sweat dripping from his forehead, indicating the struggle to keep their enemy from injuring Raven. "Might… wanna… move," he said. Raven did as he suggested and got out of the way. Gale then let go of the air around the creature, except for its feet. Raven took advantage of the opportunity and sent a blast of power at its head, the effect of such toppling the creature on its back.

The incoming Sladebots decided to make their presence known and fire at the Titans and Gale. "Oh no!" Starfire said. "How will be able to help Beast Boy if we are held back fighting here?"

"I'll stay," Gale answered. "Go help Beast Boy deal with Terra and Slade."

"What!" Robin exclaimed. "You're nuts! You can't take on that many robots along with Cinderblock, Overload and Plasmus combined!"

Gale's expression was one of determination. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. If I hold them back long enough, you guys can take care of Slade and Terra without interference."

Raven had a concerned expression on her face and she put a hand on Gale's shoulder. "Thanks. Just be careful and don't let anything happen to you."

"I'll keep that in mind. Now go!" Raven took off after her teammates who went straight towards Slade's hideout while leaving the winged boy behind to prevent their enemies from following. Gale cracked his knuckles as the amalgam of electricity, ooze and stone got to its feet again. "Let's do this then," he said, his voice barely louder than a whisper as a wind began to arise around him.

* * *

Terra struggled to get up after receiving another of Slade's punishing blows. "You failed me apprentice," he spoke while looking down at her. "I ordered you to eliminate the Titans, you did not. I commanded you to fight and you ran away."

"You… you can't treat me like this," she protested.

"Can't I?" He followed his question by striking Terra hard. She flew into the wall a fell to the ground again. "Who else would have you, my dear?" The young girl managed to pull herself up. "You've done horrible things, unforgivable things. Where else could you possibly go?"

"Anywhere but here!" she replied fiercely. "I sick of fighting, and I'm sick of you!" She then tried to pull off the chest piece of her suit, but despite her efforts, it persisted in staying.

"You'll find that quite impossible," he pointed out. "The suit's neural interface has integrated into your nervous system, into your skin. It's a part of you now, and so am I."

She gasped at this and stopped her attempt to rid herself of the suit and took a step back away from the criminal mastermind. "No!"

"You chose this life apprentice. It's too late to change your mind now. Far too late."

"It's still not too late for me to walk out the door." She accentuate her point, she walked started to walk towards the exit.

"I'm afraid it is my dear. You see, you no longer have any control in the matter." Slade pressed a button on his arm band and Terra turned around and walked back towards him as the suit forced her to do so. "You promised to fight at my side forever. That's a promise I intend to make you keep."

* * *

Piles upon piles of ruined combat robots were strewn about. Both the larger gray robots and the more humanlike ones had suffered the wrath of Gale's powers. The street on where he fought was beaten and battered. Being the only one fighting the invaders, Gale had no second thoughts about going all out against them. Pieces of pavement had been blown away by cataclysmic winds and tornados whose strength had also completely flattened a couple of nearby buildings. The giant monster was not yet beaten and many robots still remained. But despite his condition and all that he was up against, Gale had no intention of backing down whatsoever.

He raised his hands and aimed a concentrated blast of wind directly at the large creature. Enough power was put behind this move to sweep it off its feet and throw it back quite a distance, crushing a group of Sladebots upon landing. Gale materialized his transparent sword and cut off the arms of a robot who'd attempted to come up from behind. He spun around, drove his sword into its back and through the other end. He copied the move Cyborg had previously done and took the power core from its center and sent it towards the incoming Sladebots, obliterating the first three lines as well as knocking back the large monster.

More of them came at him from the opposite direction of the ones he'd just annihilated. Gale became a flurry of movement as they ganged up on him, his body and sword flashing almost faster than he could see, should he have been watching from the sidelines. His weapon severed heads, limbs and even sliced some of the robots cleanly in two. Just as he finished off this particular group, the colossal beast was extending an arm towards Gale. He instantly dispelled his sword and conjured a barrier in front of himself, but he didn't have enough time to toughen it, so the outstretched limb broke through. Although reduced, the impact was enough to send him crashing through a pile of inactivate Sladebots.

As Gale was on his hands and knees while struggling to get up, a voice popped into his head. It was a soft, feminine, caring voice, one that he knew well but hadn't heard in a long time. "_Be brave Amicus. I love you._" Upon hearing those words, he felt a glowing warmth flow into his body. Drawing on his new strength, he got to his feet and faced off against the abomination and remaining robots. The enemy looked uneasy, almost as if it could sense the power running through his body.

An enormous wave of air formed in front of Gale and sped towards the creature. This carried it away and crushed all the robots at the same time. A wall appeared behind, the wave pressing the monster against it. The large being cried out as more and more pressure was applied, until it simply collapsed. Gale let go of his powers and released the monstrosity which fell to the ground and failed to rise again.

* * *

Beast Boy was currently in the form of a wolf while tracking Terra's scent through a cavern like area. After sometime, he reached a tall metal security door which confirmed to him that he was on the right track. Shifting into a large woolly mammoth, he ploughed straight through the door with ease. A camera on the ceiling turned towards him, but he changed into a rat to avoid being spotted. He climbed up the wall and pulled out the camera's plug before dropping down and continuing in his usual form. After walking along like this for some time, he eventually reached a wide circular room where he could hear someone crying. Upon closer examination, he could see it was Terra and she was on her hands and knees. "Terra?" he asked when he got close to her.

"Destroy me," she said.

"What?"

"Come on, isn't that what you came here for? Do it! Now!" Her suit crackled with electricity and she was forced to get up and use her powers to project Beast Boy across the room.

"Forgive my apprentice," Slade spoke as he walked into the open. "As usual she can't seem to control herself. So from now on, I will be controlling her every move." A bunch of rocks were forcibly sent towards Beast Boy who jumped in the air and turned into an eagle to avoid them. He flew around and landed on the ground in front of Slade, changing into a wolf with the intent of lunging at him, but this was stopped when he was knocked aside by a boulder.

"What've you done to her?" Beast Boy asked as he was on one knee.

"Nothing she didn't want me to. Terra came to me, seeking control. And that's exactly what I've given her, my control, her body. I think you'll find I make far better use of her powers." He then raised a hand, Terra doing so as well, and forced her to raise two rocks in an attempt to crush Beast Boy between them. He avoided such by changing into a rat and running towards the both of them and away from his location. Slade/Terra raised the ground underneath to flatten him against the ceiling, but he jumped off and changed into a rhinoceros as he was falling towards the teenage girl. She sunk into the ground and re-emerged behind him. The bottom part of the platform she stood on broke apart to form a pointed tip and then the whole thing came down at him. He changed into a large green snake, the sudden change saving him and slithered away from her. A fist of earth rose and held him in an implacable grip. His form expanded until he broke free as a big gorilla and tackled the former Titan, pinning her against the ground.

"You have to stop me Beast Boy. Please, I don't want to fight anymore," she begged.

"Then don't let Slade control you!" he said in his usual shape.

"I don't have a choice."

"That's a lie! You've always had a choice!" Slade decided to break them apart and forced Beast Boy back when two pillars shot out from the ground and slammed him into the wall. Despite that, the green teenager got up and continued his efforts to break Terra from the criminal mastermind's control. "It's always been your choice! You chose to work for Slade, chose to betray us and now you chose to give him control! Slade isn't doing this, you are!"

"No!" The ground underneath Beast Boy then collapsed and he fell down, but remedied the problem by changing into an eagle and flying back up. He was then faced with a veritable barrage of rocks from the ceiling and changed into a wolf and ran to avoid it. Though the dust kicked up originally kept away knowledge of his condition, a yelp from his general location indicated that it wasn't good, a fact that was confirmed when it cleared up and he could be seen with his back leg trapped. Becoming 'human' again didn't change this.

"Very good my dear. Now, shall we finish him off?"

Terra struggled as she could, but could not prevent herself from advancing on her former friend and raising her glowing hand. "Terra, no!"

"He's too powerful. I can't stop him!"

"Yes you can. It's your power, not his. You can still control it, you can still do the right thing."

"It's too late," she said with a sad expression as rocks from around conglomerated over head to form a large earthen stake aimed at the fallen Titan.

"Stop!" Robin yelled as he swung in on his grapple.

"Strike now apprentice!" Slade ordered when he saw the Titan leader and the rest of his team coming in.

Raven stepped out of the shadows behind Terra with her hands surrounded by black telekinetic energy. "It'll be the last thing you ever do."

"I gave you an order!" Slade shouted angrily. "Do it!"

Starfire hovered in the air with a pair of starbolts at the ready. "Please Terra, no!"

Cyborg had his sonic cannon armed and at the ready. "Don't do it!"

"Listen to us Terra, you don't have to do this," Robin added.

She stood still, almost confused by the voices of the other Titans, Slade, and the sensation between her shoulder blades she'd felt the day Gale had stopped the bank robbery. But Beast Boy's voice went past all those and straight to her. "It's your life Terra, your choice. It's never too late to change."

"I'm sorry Beast Boy, for everything I've done." Terra then clenched her fist and overcame Slade's control, sending the weapon aimed at Beast boy towards Slade instead. He jumped to avoid the sharp end, but the impact on the ground still sent him back. He flipped to his feet as Terra hovered near him.

"You ungrateful little-" he began, but was interrupted when the ground underneath him rose high. Cyborg freed his friend in the meantime.

The geokinetic sent loads of rocks at Slade one after the other, making him step back towards the edge. A last one sent him falling down. Terra moved to confirm that he was indeed gone, but when she looked down, Slade jumped up and punched her hard. He then picked up the fallen girl and held her high by the chest piece of her suit. Her eyes glowed brightly yellow and her hair came to life. "You can't control me anymore!" Her powers shone brighter than they had before. The top of the raised platform developed cracks like those of a volcano and then exploded. When things cleared up, only Terra could be seen floating on a lone rock. Spurts of lava began to erupt in the area.

"Terra's powers, they triggered a volcano!" Robin realized.

"Big enough to take out the whole city," Cyborg said as he saw the readings on his arm.

"We have to get out of here," Raven pointed out.

"Terra, come on, we gotta go!"

"Sorry Beast Boy, but I have to stay."

"No…"

"I'm the only one who can stop this."

"Please Terra, you can't, it's too late," he pleaded.

"It's never too late," she repeated his words. She wrapped her arms around the green boy in a hug while tears dripped from her eyes. "You were the best friend I ever had." They separated with looks of sadness and Terra willed the ground underneath Beast Boy to take him to his teammates who ran out of the place. The remains of Slade's mask sank into the pool of lava as Terra pushed her powers as far as they could go. As she was doing so, she could have sworn she heard a strange motherly voice in her head. "_Your sacrifice shall not be forgotten Terra._" Though she'd never heard the voice before, she found that it brought her warmth and strengthened her. A blinding light then shone from the young girl as her powers pulsed.

* * *

The ground underneath Gale shook violently. He placed a hand to his chest and looked in the general direction that the Titans had run off to. Like the previous time this had happened, he could feel a strange sensation, but this time it was stronger. "Terra…" he muttered to himself. The tremor soon stopped, but when it did, the feeling in Gale's chest changed to a colder one, as if something was now missing. "So… she's gone..." he said almost subconsciously. "Well… now that this is all done, there's no longer any need for me to stick around this spot." Still being unable to fly because of his right wing, Gale simply walked away from the scene of battle before anyone could come around.

* * *

The Titans trudged along from the remains of Slade's hideout, looking dejected for the most of them. On their way back to the tower, they passed through the area where Gale had stayed behind to see if they could find him. They did not, as he had already left. However, what they did find was Cinderblock, Overload and Plasmus separated and lying unconscious on the ground. Apart from that, there were heaps of Slade's combat robots that had been destroyed in different manners. "Whoa!" Cyborg exclaimed, amazed at the destruction he could only assumed had originated from Gale.

"He's this powerful?" Robin said, also surprised at such.

"It appears to be so," Starfire joined in. "But I cannot see him anywhere."

"He's probably left already," Raven said. "Let's just go back to Titan's Tower and maybe we'll meet him again sometime."

* * *

A few days after the defeat of Slade at Terra's hands, Jump City found itself returning to normal. The people were back and life went on as it usually did. In this time, there had been no criminal activity and no trace of the mysterious metahuman known as Gale. There was speculation that he had been defeated, or had run away elsewhere, but somehow, Raven had an inkling that this was not the case and that he would make an appearance sometime soon. As for Terra, in sealing shut the volcano that would have decimated the city, she had been turned to stone. Her friends had paid her a last visit and laid a plaque at her feet. On it were the words:

_Terra_

_A Teen Titan_

_A True Friend_

* * *

Thank you to anyone who took the time to read this, and I hope it was worth your time. Just to make one thing clear, the voices Gale and Terra heard are not the same one. I'll be taking a break after this chapter to work on other stuff, and I'll get back to it after an undetermined period of time. Later!


	7. People who Care

Disclaimer: Like my other fics, I don't own what I'm writing about.

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**People who Care**

'Why do I fight? Why am I here? What am I?' were the questions that ran through Gale's mind. The young teenager was laying face-down on an old beaten up mattress on the ground somewhere in the alleyways of Jump City. Fortunately for him, there hadn't been any crime in the area, thus enabling him to rest a bit more. But even though he'd tied off the brace of air around his broken wing, it hadn't had enough time to heal very much. Also, his lack of income meant that food was hardly in abundance. In addition, the laser burns on his back he'd gotten from his third encounter with Sladebots still pained him somewhat. Beyond that, he'd had a disturbed sleep the previous night.

"I fight because people need me," Gale reminded himself. "And I'm here for the same reason." As for his third question, it was oriented towards his origins. He knew that he had to be at least half-human, given his memories of living with his mother. But he'd never known his father, which made him assume that his powers and appearance had to have been inherited from him. Although, wondering about his origins was something that he had done before and he was hardly anymore advanced now about why he was so special.

He got up into a sitting position and stayed on the mattress. While he looked around, something shinny caught his eye. He looked in the direction it came from and saw it was a handheld mirror lying on the ground that had seen better days. Regardless of such, he brought it over to him with his powers and held it in the air. His reflection showed the weary look on his colored face, his bright golden eyes that still remained sharp and his haggard black hair. Decided to fix himself up a little, he molded some of the air nearby to form a pair of scissors. He then grabbed them in his hand and started snipping away. After doing the best he could, Gale's hair was cut short enough, if roughly done.

He dispelled his instrument, let go of the mirror and stood up. He stretched out his limbs, including his left wing, making sure to avoid ruffling his right one at the same time. Gale took note of how hungry he was and thought about going outside. He knew that he'd be obliged to do so to find some sort of food to sustain him, although since Slade's defeat, the Teen Titans had been looking out for him. Despite having fought alongside them twice and helped them out other times, Gale still didn't feel as if could handle being with them, so he remained hidden.

Searching about the alleyway, Gale chanced to find a beaten up brown coat hanging from a dumpster. It was worn and dirty, but was still in useable condition and was large enough to cover up his wings, plus it had a hood to conceal his face. He put it on, while remaining careful of his broken wing, pulled up the hood and went out into the streets, keeping his head down so people couldn't see his eyes.

* * *

Robin sighed in frustration. He was currently in the evidence room, or 'all nighter room', as dubbed by Beast Boy, the reason behind such being that Robin had spent many nights here doing detective work in order to track down criminals. However, this time he was not tracking a criminal, but rather attempting to find out more about their ally Gale. Even though there had been a few occasions when the Titan's leader had met Gale in person, it had been during times when they were more concerned with fighting against Slade. Therefore, he had not had the opportunity to learn much about him, safe what Raven had told them about her brief conversation with him.

Robin drained the bottom of his mug of coffee and returned to typing at the computer. He skimmed through the archives of the Jump City Herald from the time that Gale had first been spotted but found nothing that he didn't already know. He then pushed further back in his search and a short article popped up. It read:

_**Accident in Wayne Enterprises Laboratory**_

"_An accident in one of Wayne Enterprises' laboratories yesterday resulted in some manner of experiment breaking out of the building and escaping into the city. The experiment in question left a path of destruction throughout the city, before being stopped. No one is aware of the nature of the experiment and no comments have been made by the leading researcher in the department responsible_."

Robin briefly debated the possibility of Gale being the experiment in question. He figured that Gale's elusive nature fit in with what he read from the article. However, he was dissuaded from such thoughts when he opened up a few photos from the day of the incident. There was a shot from a security camera showing the figure of a giant man walking out through a hole in a wall, though the smoke generally obscured the view. But another one shot from elsewhere showed some of the giant's face, displaying a person with bleached white hair, eyes that were entirely black, a malefic expression on his face and a head surrounded with an aura of black energy.

"If you're looking for Gale, I don't think that qualifies." Robin turned his head and came face to face with the Titan's resident sorceress. "What's that about anyway?" she asked in a monotone voice.

"Just a shot attached to an article from the Herald about an accident in Wayne Enterprises about seven years ago. Thought it talked about Gale until I saw those," he referred to the photos.

"Looks set aside, it doesn't fit with his powers," Raven said.

"It's been a week since he left off and none of us or anybody else has seen a trace of him."

"Maybe he doesn't feel comfortable with people approaching him, even us. You should just settle down and wait."

"How will that work?" he asked.

"Remember what I said before about him? He has a hard time staying put when there's a crime in progress. So we just have to wait for the next bad guy to come out of his hole and Gale will come out of hiding to try and stop him." Robin seemed unwilling to simply abandon his search so easily. "Robin, you still haven't found anything about him that we didn't already know. Just give over for once and things will work out, okay?"

Robin debated with himself, and then conceded. "Alright then."

* * *

Gale walked along the streets, keeping his senses alert to his surroundings. Whether in case of someone perpetrating a crime that he would need to stop, or simply for anyone who might be looking out for him. Fortunately, his disguise covered all that he needed to keep hidden from people walking by. However, he was taken by surprise when he turned a corner and happened to spot Cyborg and Beast Boy walking in the opposite direction. Deciding that to turn away would likely attract attention to himself, something that he didn't particularly want, Gale simply kept his cool and continued walking the same way.

"I'm telling you B.B, there's just no way we'll find Gale, no matter how much Robin's wants us to," Cyborg said.

"Yeah, tell me about it. This guy's like a ghost or something," Beast Boy responded. "I mean, we've almost checked out every single corner of the city and haven't turned up with anything."

"Even though, I doubt he's left yet," Cyborg said. "He can't fly with one wing broken so he still has limited mobility."

"Limited mobility?" Beast Boy asked with confusion on his face.

Cyborg scoffed at his friend's question. "It means he can't move as much. Which in turn means that he's can't be too far away."

'You have no idea,' Gale thought as he overheard the conversation. "Excuse me," he said as he passed by them.

Cyborg and Beast Boy stepped aside to let him go by. "Strange," Cyborg muttered as he walked away. "That guy seems almost… familiar."

Gale's ears twitched underneath his hood upon hearing his words. He simply continued walking at the same pace, intent on leaving them behind without arousing further suspicion. "Why's that?" Beast Boy asked.

"Not sure. If I saw his face I might recognize him."

"Isn't he kind of like Gale?" Beast Boy wondered. "Like when he first got here he had his cloak and was all covered up and we couldn't see a thing about him? Well, except for his eyes."

"Wait a second!" Cyborg exclaimed. "That guy's coat could cover anything he didn't want us to see. Including skin color, eyes and wings!"

"You're saying… Hey, wait up!" Beast Boy called out.

"Shit!" Gale swore as he knew he had been discovered. Not wanting to be caught, he immediately ran away from the two Titans. He turned a corner and went into a building on his left, closing the door quickly and hiding behind the wall. He stayed immobile until he saw Beast boy and Cyborg run past.

"Oh! A customer!" Gale turned around and saw the small elderly man that he'd met before the encounter with Johnny Rancid. He then realized that he'd just walked into the same bookstore as before. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I was just rearranging some books in the back."

"That's okay," Gale answered.

"Ah yes, I remember you," he said when he saw Gale's eyes. "You're that boy with the golden eyes who came here before all that mess with Slade."

"Yes," Gale answered uncomfortably.

"I heard you helped out with the Titans in defeating Slade and Terra." Gale was almost going to leave, but the man's tone reassured him, so he stayed. "Good to see you again. Please, feel free to look around." The man went to behind the counter at the front and sat down to read a book.

Gale walked to the back of the store where he had done so during his last visit. He looked through the selection of books and lo and behold, he found the exact same black cover book in the exact same spot as when he first came. Gale reached out and opened it up. He began to read it again, but at the same time, he made sure to keep his ears alert. The book in question was written like someone's diary, although the entries were not dated and the material inside was not what most people would write.

"_Our birth was the work of Father Sky and Mother Earth. We were born from their flesh, the fire of their blood molded us, their tears filled us and their breath gave us life. We are their children, me, my two brothers and my sister._"

"_As the children of Father Sky and Mother Earth, we were each given great powers and the responsibility of watching over all people and caring for them. Our sister keeps guard on the very earth, near our mother. My two brothers split between the sea and flames. As for me, I was deemed to be leader and made my domain within the sky, though still below our father._"

"_It came so suddenly. A being we know only as 'The Destroyer'. It holds such power. Our father failed to keep it back and was defeated. Now it comes to destroy all that there is._"

Gale couldn't help but feel captivated by the tale recited within these lines. He skipped over the parts he'd read before, which went up to the defeat of 'The Destroyer'.

"_We have achieved victory. But it has cost must. The Destroyer succeeded in giving our mother a grave wound. My brothers, sister and I won only when we fought completely together as one being._"

"_Our mother is gone, and yet… she is not. Her wound has caused her to retreat deeply, and in doing so, she is no longer among us. But we can still feel her presence._"

Gale closed the book as he happened to hear the bookstore's owner come in his direction. "Excuse me, but do you mind putting this book back up there?" the man asked him when he came around.

"Sure." Gale took the book the man held and placed it on one of the higher shelves where he pointed.

He then noticed the book the young teenager had been reading. "Strange… I don't remember seeing this book here before. Say, why don't you keep it?"

"You're sure about this?"

"Of course. Consider it a gift if you like."

"Thanks." Given the book's small size, it fit easily enough in Gale's pocket. That done, he went to the door and left after making sure that there were no signs of the Titans.

* * *

Currently in the living room of Titan's Tower, Starfire had dragged Robin to the couch in order to watch a documentary about ants. Try as he might, the team leader couldn't put together how it was that he had agreed. The boredom was almost starting to make him wish that he had simply ignored Raven's advice and stayed in the evidence room. Yet he managed to endure until he obtained a respite in the form of his communicator beeping. He picked it up and was greeted to the sight of Cyborg's face. "What is it Cyborg?"

"Thought you should know, Beast Boy and I just ran into Gale."

"You did?"

"Yeah. He was all covered up with an old brown coat with a hood and kept his eyes down, so we didn't recognize him at first. He passed right next to us on Elm street and we figured out that he looked familiar and why. But by then he ran off and we haven't seen him since. "

"Well, at least we know he's still here." It was right after that the alarm warned them of trouble ongoing in the city. Robin leapt off of the sofa and ran to a console on the wall. As he typed in a few commands on the keyboard, Raven emerged from the floor. "Punk Rocket's made an appearance at an outdoor concert around Central Park," he spoke into his communicator.

"Got it," Cyborg responded. "We'll meet you guys there."

* * *

Raven, Robin and Starfire joined up with Cyborg and Beast Boy on their way to stop Punk Rocket. Robin rode the R-Cycle, while the others flew, Beast Boy carrying Cyborg on his back as a Pterodactyl. "I thought it'd be Dr. Light who'd be the first bad guy to come back out," Cyborg said.

"Instead, it is the rocker of punks who is the first to terrorize people," Starfire spoke up.

"We're less than a minute away," Robin told them all.

Upon arrival at their destination, the Titans saw the stage that had been set for the concert. Rows of seats and benches faced the stage for the performers and bleachers had been erected for people to have a better view. However, there was only one person on the stage with an electric guitar hanging from his shoulders. The people who had been here for the concert were running away in panic. "Come on you blokes, how about you listen more to the sound of chaos," the villain on stage spoke. He followed his words by jamming his guitar, creating sound waves that crashed across the seats, wrecking a bunch of them and blowing people away. He was interrupted when a shot from Cyborg's sonic cannon hit the floor next to him. "Who dares interrupt Punk Rocket?"

"We dare!" He then saw the Titans standing aligned against him.

"Aww, the little Titans have come to listen to my music."

"Concert's over Punk!" Robin said.

"Hey! That's Punk Rocket, mate!" He projected another sound wave at them which they managed to avoid.

Robin chose that moment to shout his famed battle cry. "Titans, Go!"

With that done, the five titans charged the music maniac. Cyborg fired his sonic cannon directly at him, but he reflected it by playing his guitar. The returned blast caught Cyborg in the chest and flung him back like a rag doll. Robin leapt in the air and aimed a birdarang at the instrument, but Rocket simply grabbed his guitar by the neck and hit the projectile like it was a baseball. Raven's telekinetic energy surrounded the returning object and halted it in mid air, though she was later knocked to the ground when Beast Boy crashed into her, courtesy of their opponent.

Robin jumped on the stage and rushed at the villain. He avoided the punches Robin threw at him and swung low with his legs. The Boy Wonder jumped to avoid the move and came down with a hard kick, which was dodged by the rocker jumping back. He then followed up by strumming his guitar, thus creating a sound wave that sent Robin crashing into the seats.

Starfire hurled a series of starbolts at him. He took off his guitar and leapt onto it, flying as it were a surfboard, except for the air. The alien teen tried again by shooting her eyebeams, but he did a mid-air roll, thus escaping harm and then slammed into Starfire with the flat end of his guitar.

He dodged left and right as Cyborg took shots at him from the ground with his sonic cannon and retaliated by quickly taking out his guitar, giving it one strong strum, then hopping back onto it before he fell down too much. The sound wave forced Cyborg to go tumbling into one of the bleachers.

He flew back down to the stage as he was being pursued by Beast Boy in the form of an eagle. Upon landing, he swung at the green bird with his guitar and managed to catch him with the flat and sent him careening in the stands. Another sound wave also forced Robin, Raven and Starfire next to him.

"Dude! He's tough!" Beast Boy commented as they all regrouped.

"Indeed," Starfire agreed. "His guitar is making rather difficult for us to defeat him."

"We've gotta find someway to get rid of it," Robin pointed out.

"But how're we gonna do that?" Cyborg asked.

"Well beat him somehow," Raven said.

Punk Rocket laughed loudly at them. "There's not a chance in hell you lot can beat me. Now just sit back and listen. Cause I've got someone special commin up."

"This can't be good," Cyborg commented.

To prove how much Cyborg was right, the rocker pulled out a remote from his pocket and pushed the only button on it. The stage's floor behind him opened up and a large speaker started to rise. When it was finished, the Titans could see that the whole thing was about 20 feet high and over fifteen wide. He pulled a cord that extended from it and plugged it into his guitar. "Really not cool!" Beast Boy added.

"You like it? Then you're gonna love this!" He punctuated his statement by giving one full powered strum on the guitar. A giant sound wave travelled from the guitar and slammed into all the Titans and hurled them back, even Raven who had managed to form a black shield, but only around herself, though she wasn't pushed back quite so far. "Looks like I should turn up the volume a little," he said in regard to what Raven had accomplished. He cranked the dial on his guitar even further. "So long, sucker!" He brought his arm overhead and swung it downward, give his guitar a powerful strum.

This created another large sound wave, and aimed directly at Raven. She attempted to brace herself… but the attack never hit. Punk Rocket obviously had nothing to do with that, given the look of shock on his face. Raven looked around and saw a figure nearby that brought relief. Gale had already shed the brown coat the moment he'd found out about Punk Rocket's rampage. He made his way so that he stood next to Raven and stretched his arm towards her. "Need a hand?"

"Thanks," she said and got up with his help.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Punk Rocket shouted at Gale.

"You should go check on your team, I can handle this guy." he told Raven, then turned to the man on the stage. "I don't suppose you're smart enough to surrender now, are you?"

"Yeah right, like I'd give up so easy!"

"Figures." Gale simply crossed his arms and gave the rocker a piercing stare. The villain didn't stay inactivate much longer. He turned the volume knob on his guitar just below the maximum and gave it a strum. Again, it created a giant sound wave, yet Gale simply watched all of this as if it were no more bothersome than a fly. Before it got anywhere close, Gale just willed it to disappear and it was gone.

The Titans watched, impressed at the ease with which he'd repelled the attack. "You might have been able to dodge that one, but you won't stand a chance against this!" Punk Rocket then pressed on the button of his remote again and two more speakers of the same size emerged beside the first. "Sayanora, fella!" He pushed the volume knob as far as it could go and launched a sound wave larger than all the others had been. This time Gale didn't wait for it to move any further than a foot away from its origin before commanding it to break apart.

Gale finally launched his counter attack and formed three waves of air, each of which arced towards the stage and sliced the speakers cleanly in two. Punk Rocket went crazy at this and jumped to the ground and went to charge at Gale with his guitar held high. However, he was met with a gust of wind which tossed him into the bottom of the stage hard enough to knock him unconscious. Gale walked to where the guitar was lying, materialized his transparent sword and stabbed it. He then dispelled it and turned around to face the Titans.

"Whoa! That was too cool!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Way to go dude!" Cyborg added.

Raven walked up to him with concern on her face. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he responded. "Just… just… tired, is all." Those words said, he collapsed and would have fallen to the ground, had Raven not been there to catch him.

"What's wrong with him?" Robin inquired.

"He's exhausted for one, and his wing's still broken," Raven answered. "I'll take him back to the tower right now."

Robin nodded at this. "We'll take Punk Rocket away and meet you later." The dark teen concentrated, and her powers enveloped herself and Gale, transporting both to Titan's tower.

* * *

Raven emerged in the infirmary of Titans Tower while supporting an unconscious Gale. She lifted him up with her powers and set him face-down down on the bed. Her hand glowed blue as she passed it over him to order to determine where his injuries were the worst. After a brief examination, she chose to begin with his wing. She gently placed her hand against the area where it was broken, feeling the brace of air he had created which still hung tight.

She concentrated her powers on this exact spot and started mending the bone. Luckily, the brace had done a good enough job at keeping it intact and made hers easier. Having done what she could, Raven then dispelled the brace, being that there was no longer a need for such. For the wounds on his back, she cut open his shirt with a sliver of her powers, though the laser marks had sabotaged a far bit of it already.

The young teenage girl focused her powers towards healing these particular injuries. As she was in the midst of doing so, Robin came into the infirmary. "How's he doing?" he asked.

"I've fixed his wing easily enough, his back's scorched from over thirty laser blasts and he hasn't eaten much in a while. Apart from that, he has a few minor injuries, most of which are about a week old or a fair bit older."

"How soon do you think he'll come to?"

"Not sure. After I'm done he'll need to rest for a while to recover from exhaustion. And when he's fit enough to get up, he'll need to take it easy. Even with what I've done and the brace he's had around his wing, it'll still need a day or two to fully recover. He'll need food too, but the injuries on his back will be alright just as soon as I'm finished."

Robin simply nodded at this. "I guess you were right about him. Do you think he's dependable?"

"He's reserved and has his secrets, but… he saved me twice and repeatedly put himself in harm's way to help us out. You're thinking of asking him to join?" The latter part was more a statement than a question.

"He's done almost all he has alone with his powers and with harsh enough conditions. Imagine how much he could help if he was a part of the team." Robin let this linger in the air for a moment. "We'll just have to wait for a bit before deciding." He then turned around and left Raven to continued patching up their patient.

* * *

A bright light forced Gale to squint as he regained consciousness. He blinked a few times before his eyes finally adjusted to the level of lighting. He remained on his back, regaining his senses one by one, as if he'd awoken after a century long sleep. As his senses came back to him, so did his memories, the better and the worse, including a vague one of a familiar group of people standing over him. Fully regaining consciousness, Gale felt the brace he'd created was gone, but his wing was fit and the burns from the laser wounds in his back no longer pained him.

He then took into account that he was lying on some sort of bed, dressed in his usual clothes, but for his shirt which was missing, though he was covered with a thin white blanket. The ceiling and walls next to him were a blank metallic gray color. Moving slowly, Gale managed to pivot his legs around and reached an upright sitting position. From his surroundings, he guessed that he was in some sort of hospital room, but he was the only one present, except for a girl sitting crossed legged in mid air at the other end of the room.

A brief look and he recognized Raven. She opened her eyes and stood up. "So you're awake."

"Raven?" he asked with a curious expression. "Where... where am I?"

"The medical bay in Titan's Tower," she answered smoothly. "You collapsed after that fight with Punk Rocket so I brought you here. Your wing's no longer broken, the laser burns on your back are gone and everything else about you is working fine. How do you feel?"

"Pretty good, all things considered."

She then tossed him a plain green t-shirt. "Your other shirt was pretty beaten so I took it off. You can have that one."

"Did you see… the symbol?"

"Yes," she answered curtly. He pulled the sheets off of himself. Dead center on his chest, there was something that looked more like a birth mark than a tattoo. It was a loosely shaped rectangle two inches wide and three inches long. The bottom was a brown earthen color. On top of that, there were two parts opposite each other, one blue like the ocean, the other, red like fire. The rest was blue green, like air. A thin white line surrounded the entire thing, which in turn was surrounded by another line, but black.

"I'm afraid I don't know what it is," Gale said as he put on the t-shirt, which conveniently had had holes put in the back that let him poke his wings through. "All I can say is that I've had that mark for as long as I can remember." Raven simply nodded at this. "So, how long have I been out?"

"Almost two days. But it would be best for you if you stayed with us a bit longer. At least until we're sure you've fully recovered."

Gale debated this with himself. On the one hand, he still didn't feel entirely comfortable with the whole situation, but on the other, they had put a good amount of effort into seeing him recover, so he chose to go along with this twist of fate for the time being. "Alright then. If you want me to stay, then I'll stay."

"Good. Why don't you come to the main room now? You haven't eaten much in a while."

As if it had heard what Raven had just said, Gale's stomach gave off a noise that confirmed her words. "Sure." He dropped off of the bed and followed Raven out of the infirmary. He tested out his right wing, extending it a little and found that it felt completely normal. "Raven…" The young teenager in question turned her head towards him a little as they walked. "Thanks, for what you've done."

"No problem. And thank you for helping me before."

"You're welcome." The two of them continued walking down the hallway in relative silence, the only sounds made by their footfalls. Eventually, Raven lead him to a pair of doors and split apart to reveal all the other Titans gathered in the room.

Cyborg, Beast Boy and Robin were all playing a fighting game on the game station, while Starfire was concocting something in the kitchen area. All four of them turned towards the door when they heard the two arrive. "Hi," Gale greeted them all simply.

"Hey Gale!" Cyborg waved.

"What's up dude?" Beast Boy asked.

Starfire flew from the kitchen and would have embraced Gale in one of her infamous crushing hugs, had it not been for Raven. "Starfire, it might be a better idea to wait a bit before you get too friendly with him."

Hardly deterred by her friend's words, the alien teen stood before their guest and introduced herself. "Greetings!" she said enthusiastically. "My name is Starfire, from Tamaran! Curiosity abounds! Please tell me, where did you come from, how did you get here, how are you feeling, how old are you and do you wish to be my friend?"

Gale gave Raven a sidelong glance, to which she rolled her eyes and left him to decidpher what Starfire had said. "Well, last I was around Gotham City, I walked and flew to Jump, I'm feeling well enough, at my last birthday I turned fifteen, and maybe," he answered her questions slowly and in the right order.

Despite his non committal answer as to whether they could be friends, Starfire still squealed delightedly and substituted a hug for a vigorous handshake. "Glorious! I am most happy to have you with us!"

After being freed from her grip, Gale went through the process of being introduced to Cyborg and Beast Boy. The former shook his hand, though not as much as Starfire and talked briefly. As for the green teenager, he excitedly spoke to Gale about the Titans and how cool the stuff he could do was. His manner of acting made Gale think of him almost as a male version of Starfire, except with a few differences. When that was done, then came Robin. "Nice to have you with us," he said as he shook his hand.

"Likewise," Gale responded. In the time that they stood facing each other, Gale and Robin looked at the other as if sizing the other up. "Not to intrude," Gale broke the silence, "but do you guys have anything to eat?"

"Just you wait!" Cyborg butt in. "I can make the best food you've ever eaten in your life! And while I'm at it, any one else want dinner?"

The other Titans acquiesced except for Beast Boy who seemed opposed to the idea of Cyborg cooking. "You don't wanna eat what he's making," he said to Gale.

"He sure won't want to even touch whatever you can make!" Cyborg replied.

"Yeah right!"

"Yeah, right!"

Gale pressed two fingers against his forehead as he watched them degrade into an unruly argument. Raven seemed about to explode at them, but Gale calmed them down first. "Can you two settle this peacefully, please? Before I feel tempted to jump out the window?" The two titans in question turned their attention towards him and apologized for their behavior. Both of them went to the kitchen and donned chef aprons and hats.

"So what do you want?" Cyborg asked.

"I'll have whatever you two are making." Separate from each other, Cyborg and Beast Boy began making burgers, vegetarian and with meat. Raven, Robin, Starfire and Gale settled down in the seats.

"So Gale," Robin spoke up beside him. "Do you mind if I asked you a couple things?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Go ahead."

"Since when have you had your powers?"

"I was born with them. My mother was a normal person and my father left before I was born. So I'd assume they came from him."

The Boy Wonder nodded at this. "When did you first realize you had powers?"

"When I was three, more or less. I could only do small things at the time."

"When did that change?"

Gale almost sighed at the memory that was attached with his answer. "Sometime when I was eight. I don't think my stepfather shed too many tears when I left afterwards."

"What happened after that?"

"I wandered around the country, fighting crime alone and surviving as best I could."

"Tell me friend, how is it that you are able to do so many things with your powers?" Starfire inquired.

"I'm fairly creative," was his answer. "I just move the air and do what I will with it."

"My friends," Cyborg announced. "I give you, dinner!" He turned around and set a platter with hamburger patties before them. He also set down the ketchup, mustard, buns and whatever else he deemed necessary. Beast Boy put down a plate of veggie burgers, of which one would be eaten by Gale and the rest only by himself.

"Thanks," Gale said as he made his own burger. The taste and smell were good, but even better was the feeling he got from eating his fill, something which he had not done in a while.

Though it wasn't exactly new, at one point Beast Boy and Cyborg found themselves in the middle of a meat vs. vegetarian argument, which had likely started by one of them making a remark about what the other ate. This time it was interrupted by Raven. She set her burger back on her plate and voiced her annoyance clearly. "Beast Boy, Cyborg." The two Titans in question stopped their verbal fight and looked at her. "Either stop arguing right now, or I will throw you out the window."

"I second that," Gale added. Their argument dropped dead like a rock after that.

They all continued eating in relative silence, conversing amongst themselves. Gale spoke about as much as Raven and usually when someone else did first. "Just wondering, how do you have your level of control over your powers?" Raven inquired.

"I've trained myself to use my powers a fair bit. Aside from that, meditation does help." She nodded at this, interested by the fact that his methods were similar to hers.

"So, does it always work?" Beast Boy asked. "I mean, have you ever lost control?"

As an answer, Beast Boy was the recipient of Gale's piercing stare. "You already know," was all he said. After they all had finished, Cyborg offered a tour of the tower, which Gale declined, saying that he'd rather sleep, as it was rather late, and told him that he'd take him up on his offer the next day.

"Raven, do you mind showing him to one of the empty rooms?"

"Sure," Raven replied to the team leader with a look of understanding. "Come on, I'll show you where you can sleep." Gale followed the dark Titan out of the main room, bidding the rest goodnight with a nod.

After they had been gone for a bit, Robin turned to the rest of the Titans. "Well?"

"Well…" Beast Boy began. "He's kinda creepy, doesn't talk so much and acts kinda like a loner, sorta the way Raven does. But I still think he's a good guy."

"From what Raven said and from speaking with him now, I would say that despite his dark demeanor, he does seem like a good individual," Starfire added.

"Plus, he's got pretty impressive powers," Cyborg said. "And he has control. Apart from that, we've seen and we know that he has the drive to do good."

The Boy Wonder nodded. With three Titans in favor of offering Gale a place in their midst, and with Raven already having told him her opinion, it pretty much made the descision official. "Right then. All that's left is to make him the offer and see what happens."

* * *

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments about stuff (whatever it may be), feel free to drop a review. Till next!


	8. Friends at Last

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. It's just that simple.

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Friends at Last**

Chaos and disorder was rampant in the city. Many of the streets were marked with spider web like cracks. Some buildings were beaten and barely holding upright, while others had already crumbled. People ran away in panic, or hid in fear, desperately seeking to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Vehicles were overturned, or even flung away from their original location. Random destruction was sowed along the streets, as if on a cruel being's whim. Small tremors could be felt in intervals, stopping on occasion, before resuming again. Further in the widespread metropolis, a giant figure almost ten feet tall stomped its way along the streets, sweeping aside anything that was in its path. The man, if it could be called that, raised his hand and shot a dark purple lightning bolt of energy that struck the ground. Two people were tossed back, landing some distance apart.

The first person was a woman in her early thirties. She had long black hair, green eyes, wore blue jeans, a red coat and had a look of fright and worry on her face. The other, was a boy of less than ten years old. Like the woman, his hair was black. But unlike her, his was short and even stranger, he had golden eyes, pointed ears, his skin was a greenish blue color and overall, he had a pair of brown feathery wings on his back that could be seen with his coat now gone.

The giant simply laughed maliciously at the two of them. "I must say, I do rather enjoy these powers," the man, or creature, said. "I had never realized how much fun this could be. But, as it would be safer to make sure no one interferes with me while I'm amusing myself…" he turned his gaze towards the boy specifically. "I'm afraid I'll have to go through the process of removing any threat in the area." He raised his hand, readying another lightning bolt of energy in the palm his hand, this one dark enough to make it seem black. "So long, little boy," he said in a tone of mock sympathy, then released the energy.

Time seemed to slow down as the evil being's attack travelled towards the boy who was still lying on the ground. Willing herself to move, the woman rose from where she lay and jumped at the boy, pushing him out of the way, though in the process, the dark bolt struck her dead center.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the boy shouted when he saw the woman lying hurt. He scrambled next to her and knelt beside her prone form. Her breathing was short and labored, she had marks over her body and blood seeped from the black spot on her chest where she had taken the hit. "No, this can't be," the boy whimpered, holding the woman's head in his arms. "Please, don't leave. I need you mommy."

"How pathetic," the giant remarked as he saw the spectacle before him. He looked at the boy as if he were only granting him a few more moments because he was of no real threat.

The woman weakly managed to raise her hand and brought it to the boy's cheek. "Be brave Amicus. I love you." And then her body slumped, now void of life. The boy cried as he realized that she was dead.

* * *

Gale awoke with a start, sweating profusely as a result of the nightmare he had just relived. He sat straight on the bed in the guest room that had been set up for him in Titan's Tower. Taking deep breaths, Gale managed to calm himself down. "That was only a nightmare," he reminded himself. "It's gone and buried in the past."

He freed himself of the plain sheet and orange blanket, then stood up from the bed. Not bothering to fix it, Gale grabbed the t-shirt he'd left on an empty chair, put it back on and walked out the door. Having passed by it when Raven had lead him to the room, Gale had no trouble finding the bathroom. He flicked on the light and looked at his reflection in the mirror. He would have to admit, he looked better than even the last time he'd had a mirror at hand. He splashed some water on his face to rid the sleep from his eyes and headed down the hall to the main room. When the door opened up before him, he took note of Raven who was already there, wearing her leotard and cloak and sitting on the couch with a steaming mug of herbal tea in her hands. "Hey Raven," he greeted her.

"Morning," she replied. "What're you doing up so early?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I asked you first."

Gale smiled half in amusement at this. "Do you have any more tea?"

"Just on the counter. Help yourself."

"Thanks." Gale went to the kitchen area, took out a mug and poured some tea from the kettle. He took his mug and sat down on the couch next to Raven, taking a few sips of the hot drink.

"So, what made you get up so early?" Raven asked again.

Gale sighed as he thought about what exactly he wanted to tell her. "I had a nightmare," he chose to say for the moment. "What about you? I don't suppose you suffered the same thing?"

"Yes," Raven said simply. Silence reigned for a moment before being interrupted again. "So, what was yours about?"

"My first real fight ever. It was against some kind of rampaging giant that just went around wrecking stuff." Though the dream itself and the memory from which it originated were much more detailed, Gale purposefully avoided saying more. Even if he had some difficulty keeping his face straight when talking about the subject, he managed to give nothing away, or so he thought.

Raven, with her empathic abilities, was able to sense a brief spike in Gale's emotions when he mentioned the giant, although it was snuffed out quickly. The young sorceress chose to let it go for the time being at least. "You started off big then," she commented.

"I guess you could say that," he responded. "So, your turn. What did you dream about?"

Images of horror from her nightmare flashed through Raven's mind. The earth burning, her friends dead and other things which she dreaded. "I saw… bad things happen," she whispered sub-consciously.

"What kind of things?" Gale asked, curious.

"I... I saw terrible things, death and destruction…" the winged boy remained respectfully silent at this, not even bothering with further inquiry.

They both remained silent for some time, dwelling on their own thoughts while drinking from their mugs. Eventually they broke the silence again, making small talk, about random subjects that came to mind. At one point, their topic turned towards meditation. They spoke of it for a short while, before choosing to engage in the activity in question. Both teenagers left the couch in favor of the middle of the room. Raven sat cross legged and hovered in mid air opposite from Gale, who took the same position, but with a transparent circular platform to support him.

Both of them remained like this for some time, the only noise being their breaths as well as Raven and Gale occasionally repeating their own mantras. Raven muttered: "_Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos,_" and Gale said: "_Aer, Ventus, Caelum_."

Though she found his choice of words interesting, their meditation session remained uninterrupted until Cyborg came in the room. "Morning, Raven. Morning Gale," he greeted them in a booming voice.

"Morning," they both replied simultaneously, then stared at each other briefly as a result, before standing up straight, Gale dispersing his seat.

"Know what time it is?" the winged boy asked Cyborg.

"It is…" he said as he looked at a miniature screen on his arm. "About 8:00, Thursday morning."

"Cool," he replied in a monotone voice.

"Either of you want something to eat?"

"I don't know. What're you making?"

Cyborg looked through the fridge and cupboards, scanning the materials available before giving a list of things possible. "I can make you pancakes, eggs, bacon, waffles, French toast, hash brown… pretty much anything with what we've got right now."

"I'll take pancakes then."

"Same here," Raven said.

"Coming right up." The half metal teenager took out frying pan and all the ingredients he needed, which he proceeded to whip up into a mixing bowl.

The others walked to the kitchen area and sat down. "So, how do you know Latin?" Raven asked Gale, curious.

He shrugged his shoulders. "As weird as is may seem, I don't know how." The teen sorceress raised a questioning eyebrow at this. "Really, I just know the words. For example, I know that ignis means fire, aqua is water and aer translates to air."

"Interesting," Raven muttered, referring to his knowledge of the language and the fact that he had omitted the translation of earth, though she figured out why he'd done it.

Silence reigned, apart from the sounds of Cyborg cooking. Soon afterwards, he set down five plates, forks and knives, having noticed that Robin and Starfire had just walked in. "Morning guys," Robin greeted them, to which Raven and Gale nodded to him.

"Greetings, friends!" Starfire said joyously. "What a beautiful day it is! Would you not agree?"

"I guess it's nice out," Gale responded, seeing that the sun was shining brightly enough for the time of day and giving the impression that it would continue for some time.

"Come and get em!" Cyborg announced that the first batch of pancakes were ready. He then flipped the spatula backwards, catapulting ten pancakes to land on the plates set out. "Dig in!"

After applying whatever they wanted to their pancakes, they all began eating. "So, Gale," Robin spoke up. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," he answered between two mouthfuls. "Beast Boy's still in dreamland, I assume?"

"No kidding. He can hardly ever get out of bed this early unless you pull him out, and literally," Cyborg said. "You up for a tour of the tower after you're done eating?"

Gale shrugged his shoulders at this. "Sure."

The robotic teen gave his leader a sidelong look. He figured that Robin would want to wait until they were all gathered in the main room before making Gale the offer. And that showing him around their home should give Beast Boy enough time to get out of bed. When they were all finished, Robin said that he'd take care of the dishes with Starfire while Cyborg showed Gale around. "Come on man, let's go." The two of them got up and went out the room into the hall.

Cyborg showed Gale their bedrooms, at the same time educating him about the potential dangers of going into Raven's room without her consent, something which didn't exactly surprise him much. Even though Gale had seen some of the tower, it had been during the heated battle against the invading sladebots, therefore, he hadn't really had the opportunity to take a good look around. "And right here we've got the training room," Cyborg said as they got to the gym like room. "We also have an area set outside with more stuff, except that it's even bigger."

"Cyborg?" The teenager in question turned his head as Gale spoke up. "Why are you showing me this place?"

"Wadda you mean?"

"Why are you showing me all these places in the tower, given that I'm only staying for a couple days?"

Cyborg tried to think up an answer that wouldn't give away Robin's intentions until he divulged them. After a brief deliberation with himself, he came up with one. "Because, I figured that I'd show you all there is to see while we're at it."

"Well, alright then." Cyborg continued acting the tour guide of the Titans' home. Gale simply took it all in, despite the fact that he still had suspicions about the whole thing.

After they were all finished touring the tower up and down, inside and out, they went back to the elevator to join the others in the main room. "So, what did you think about all that?" Cyborg asked.

"Nice place you guys have," Gale commented, a fraction of longing in his voice.

The elevator took them back up from the bottom floor at a steady pace and stopped not too long after. The two boys stepped out and walked the rest of the way to the main room, where they found the other Titans still waiting, except that they were now accompanied by Beast Boy. "Hey Gale!" he greeted him.

"I see you're out of bed at last," Gale commented.

"… yeah." Beast Boy held his head behind his head as he stood there. "Umm, I guess I wanted to say, I'm sorry for that thing about your powers last night and all."

"Don't mention it."

"Soo, we're cool?"

"Sure."

"Please tell me, did you enjoy being given the tour of our abode?" Starfire asked.

"It was nice," Gale responded nonchalantly.

"Gale," the winged boy in question focused his attention towards the Titan leader. Although, he couldn't help but feel a slight bit of unease when he noticed that all the Titans were standing opposite him. "We have an offer for you. We've all talked among ourselves about it, and everyone agreed. But, the final decision, whether you accept, rests with you." Gale looked at them with a sliver of nervousness about him.

'Why do I feel something big coming up?' Gale thought to himself. 'And why do I feel like I'm not going to be entirely comfortable with it?' "Oookay," he said uncertainly. "What's this offer about then?"

Robin briefly looked at his friends who nodded and smiled, though Raven nodded without a smile, then he turned back to Gale. "We want you to join the Titans."

As soon as Robin had completed his last sentence, Gale froze, his mouth dropped open a little and staring at all of them in complete shock. He went over the phrase in his head a few times, despite knowing that Robin had said what he thought he had said and that he himself had understood every word perfectly. "You… want me, to join the Titans?" Gale repeated the question. Even as he spoke, he could feel warmth within him, the feeling of belonging, something which he had not experienced since he'd been a young child, before he ran away. But at the same time that this came up, so did the opposite side of the coin. The nightmare of his worst memory resurfaced, the image of his mother pushing him away, of taking the hit for him, of dying as he cried and the giant laughed cruelly.

"Yes," Robin answered simply, still smiling.

"But… why?"

"Is it really that hard to decide?" Cyborg asked. "Come on dude! Just look at it! You've got really cool powers, you've taken down a load of bad guys, including that giant monster of Slade's and you've helped us out before. What more is there to it?"

"I…"

"Please, friend, do you not wish to stay with us in our home? And fight the forces of evil at our side?" Starfire spoke with a touch of sadness in her voice.

"Why do you trust me so easily?" The Titans looked at him with confusion on their faces. "After Terra's betrayal, you're this willing to take in someone like me?"

Beast Boy's face showed a pang of hurt and sadness at the mention of the blond girl. "Yes," he said resolutely. "We are willing to take you in, even after what's happened."

"Can you make your decision?" Robin asked, impatient.

"I… I need to think." Gale then walked back through the doors and into the hallway.

Silence reigned for a moment afterwards. "This is a rather unexpected development," Starfire commented.

"Can't really say I expected him to react like this," Beast Boy added.

"He did ask why I was showing him all the stuff in the tower when we got to the training room," Cyborg mentioned. "But I didn't think he'd take it like that."

"Great!" Robin said sarcastically.

"Robin," Raven spoke up. "I'll go talk to him."

"How do you know where he'll be?"

"I've got a good hunch. Just wait here and I'll be back." The team leader nodded and she left them to sit and wait.

* * *

After climbing a set of stairs, Gale emerged from the door which lead to the rooftop of Titans' Tower. From this vantage point, he had an incredible view of the surroundings, even more so with his eagle like eyes. The city lay off on one side, the seemingly endless sea on the other. The sun shone brightly in the sky, illuminating all there was to see. He walked next to the edge of the roof, looking down at the ground below. He spotted a seagull diving down to catch a fish that jumped out of the water, joining another who sat on the rocks.

He went over the events that had just recently happened. Though Gale had had much experience in being alone and was used to being shunned by others because his looks and powers, a small part of him had always yearned to be accepted by others, to have people who cared. And yet, the other side of him said that he could not allow such a thing to happen, reminding him of what he had failed long ago, of the person who had died because he had failed to save her.

He simply stood immobile, blankly staring at the view as he fought with himself. A battle where he wasn't winning. 'You can't let yourself get attached to them,' one side of him said. 'Have you forgotten what happened to the last person you were close with?'

'No.'

'You're meant to be alone, to sink back into the shadows, and let the people be by themselves.'

'But why? I never wanted her to go. Why did she have to die?'

'She died because of your incompetence, because of your failure to act.'

"Gale?" So absorbed had he been in his own thoughts, that he had failed to hear Raven joining him on the roof.

"Yeah?" he responded with his back to her.

"What's going on?" she asked as she walked next to him.

"Just thinking, that's all."

"Care to share your thoughts?"

Gale didn't give an answer for some time, simply taking deep breaths, as if steeling himself for what he'd say. "Since I ran away from home, I've pretty much always been by myself. People couldn't look past this," he motioned to his wings, ears and skin. "One time I tried to walk into an orphanage." Gale shook his head in dismay. "The woman in charge freaked out when she saw me and the other kids threw whatever they had until I ran off." Raven listened in silence. She could feel Gale open up a little as he spoke. She could sense depression, anger and loneliness, among other emotions. But she could tell that there was more to it. "Since then, I always wanted to have friends, people who actually cared about me."

"We care about you," Raven said. "We trust you. Why else do you think Robin made the offer?"

Gale smiled grimly at this. "The problem is, I wasn't meant to be worthy of such a thing."

"Why do you say that? Why are you demeaning yourself like this?"

"Because, it's the truth." Raven looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You know that dream I told you about earlier?" She nodded in confirmation. "Well, there's more to it than what I said." He took another deep breath before continuing. "My first real fight was also my worst failure."

"What're you talking about? I haven't exactly heard about any rampaging giants, so I'd guess you beat it."

"Yeah, that I did. But, he killed someone before it happened. I failed to save a person I could've saved!"

"Gale," Raven said after a moment of silence. "You can't let your past determine your future. You have the power and the will to help others, and that's what matters." Gale simply looked down. The young sorceress grabbed his shoulder and turned him around to face her. "Look at me," she said. He did as told. "You saved people when we weren't there, you put yourself at risk just to help us when Slade sent his robots to the tower, you fought alongside us before and you didn't let anyone down. You're a good person, you just have to realize it."

Gale's expression changed to a more hopeful one. "You… really think so?"

"Yes," she said confidently. "Robin believes it, Beast Boy believes it, Starfire believes it, Cyborg believes it and so do I. We all believe in you."

Upon hearing those words, Gale felt happier than he had been for a long time. Raven smiled warmly, seeing the smile on his face and sensing the happiness washing away the negative emotions inside him. "Raven…" he said with a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Though not usually one to accept physical contact like this, Raven let it be nonetheless. "You're welcome. So, shall we rejoin the others?" she motioned towards the door.

"Sure thing." The two of them left the roof and went back inside. Raven regained her usual expression as they walked back towards the main room. When they arrived there, they found the four other Titans waiting for them.

"So, where were you at?" Robin asked in a tone of mild annoyance.

"Just on the roof," Gale answered. "Thinking."

"Have you decided on your answer yet?"

"That I have."

Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire and Cyborg looked at him expectantly. "And?"

He offered them all a small smile. "I accept."

"Really?" Beast Boy asked in surprise.

"Yep."

Starfire squealed delightedly at hearing such joyous news. She flew from where she was standing with the others and enveloped Gale in one of her infamously crushing hugs. "Welcome to the Titans, new friend."

"Thanks," he managed to articulate.

"Glad to have you on the team," Robin said after Gale had been freed from Starfire's hug.

"Congrats," Raven said with the shadow of a smile on her face.

"Way to go man!" Cyborg and Beast Boy high fived the newest recruit who presently had few qualms about such emotional displays.

"Now that that's done, there's one more thing that still needs to be done."

"And that would be…" Gale asked Cyborg.

"To celebrate, of course!"

* * *

After the celebrations had taken place, all the Titans had taken part in integrating Gale in the team. The room in which he'd slept the previous night was now marked as his own and with the others' help, it had been decorated to his liking, something which had taken them the rest of the day. The following morning, Gale found himself in the evidence room with Robin and what seemed almost like an unending mound of paperwork. "Whoever thought there could be this much paper in one spot," Gale muttered as he read over the contents. "I can hardly believe I've read this much."

"I'm afraid it's just part of the job," Robin said in amusement.

"Yeah, well this isn't exactly my favorite part." He continued going through the paperwork until he finally reached the last bunch. "Is this really all that's left?" Robin nodded at him. "Because if you set one more page in front of me, I think I'll go nuts and rip it apart. What's this thing about anyway?"

"That one states the privileges you get access to as a Titan," Robin explained. "Such as Titans salary and there's also a part where you allow for merchandise to have your image on it."

"Do I have to sign with my real name?" Gale asked as he came to the end.

"Yes, but if it matters, no one else will see it."

Gale rapidly signed his name, making sure that Robin didn't see it, and slammed the last document on the finished pile. "Finally! Glad that's over."

"There's still a few other loose ends to bring together." Gale looked at the team leader with a raised eyebrow. "For one, Beast Boy's going to help you design your costume on the computer, then Cyborg will make it for you after you've decided on all the particulars."

"Anything else I should know about?"

"That pretty much makes it official, except maybe just introducing you to the media. But given what you've done already, it shouldn't take long." 'And then there's the initiation,' Robin thought to himself.

"Well, if that's it then." Gale then left the room and a smirking Robin behind.

* * *

Gale found Beast Boy in the main room getting his butt handed to him in a fighting video game against Cyborg. "You wanna win, you know you wanna, but that's not gonna happen," the robotic teen taunted his friend.

"You just wait," came the reply. "I'm so gonna win this one." But to his dismay, Cyborg pressed a combination of buttons and the blue robot on the screen kicked back the smaller green avatar, then pulled out a large bazooka like weapon and fired, thus obliterating it and giving Cyborg the victory.

"Booyah!"

"That was totally not fair!"

"Well, now that you're done losing, you can come help me out," Gale spoke up right behind him.

The green teenager jumped a foot off the couch in surprise. "Dude! Are you sure you didn't know Raven before?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Now come on B.B."

"Oh, right. I'm supposed to show you how to design your suit on the computer." He left the couch and lead Gale out of the room. He brought him to one of the terminals to the Titans mainframe and booted it up. He toyed around with it for a moment, and then opened up the program he was searching for. "Okay then, first you can just look at the designs available and pick out one that suits you. Hey, suits you." Beast Boy laughed at his own joke, while Gale simply rolled his eyes. "And you can play around with it and the colors when you find one."

He browsed through the images on the screen, looking for a particular style which he fancied. It took him a few minutes of rejecting kinds he wasn't interested in, before he found a good one. After toying with the whole thing a little, Gale had made his choice. "I'm done," he announced.

"Lemme see." Beast Boy checked it out. "Nice! he exclaimed. "It really s-"

"Beast Boy, don't say it again."

"Oh, right then."

* * *

"Did everything work out alright?" Cyborg asked.

"Everything's fine," Gale's voice came through his room's door. "Feel's alright, and looks okay."

"Well, are you done suiting up?" Beast Boy said.

"Yeah, I finished half an hour ago and I've been staring at myself in the mirror since then," Gale said sarcastically.

The five other titans waited outside Gale room while he finished putting on the suit that Cyborg had made for him. The half robot had built only one so far, but it had taken him a relatively short amount of time to do so. "I'm done."

The door slid open and Gale stepped out into the hallway, his hair now trimmed perfectly and sporting his brand new uniform. The shirt part was a sky blue color with occasional fragments of white, giving the impression of clouds and wind blowing. From the waist down, the suit shifted into a dark green color, like the sky and land touching. In addition, Gale wore a pair of dark blue combat boots that almost seemed black. To top it off, he had a pair of reddish gloves on his hands with streaks melding into the sky color of his shirt.

"Cool," Robin said.

"Nice!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Spectacular!" Starfire burst out.

Raven simply displayed a small smile on her face.

"How does it feel?" Cyborg asked.

Gale flexed his arms, legs and his wings which stuck out through the suit, to get the feel of it. "I've gotta admit, it's pretty comfortable. Nice work, Cyborg."

"No problem man."

"You guys wouldn't mind if I took it outside for a test? It's been a while since I flew."

"I don't see why not," Robin said.

* * *

All six Titans now stood on the rooftop of Titans' Tower as the afternoon sun still shone on them. "Don't worry about a thing guys. It may have been a while since I've flown, but I still remember how to do it," Gale reassured them.

"Alright then. We'll be watching closely in case anything happens," Cyborg said.

Gale then turned away from them and faced in the direction of the sea. He got into a sprint up to the edge, and jumped straight off. A second passed, then two, and three. The Titans waited with a certain degree of anxiousness, until suddenly, Gale shot straight upward, his wings stretched out to full extent. He executed a series of aerial maneuvers, rolling, diving and loops, impressing his spectators below. After he judged that he'd done enough, he slowed down and landed lightly in front of the others.

"That was way cool!" Beast Boy exclaimed excitedly.

"Impressive," Robin commented.

"It was most amazing," Starfire added.

"Nice," Raven said.

"I've gotta say, that felt good." Just after he'd finished, the alarm rang out. Robin picked up his communicator and looked to his team when he was finished. "What's happening?"

"Trouble at Wayne Enterprise," he informed them. "I'll explain on the go."

* * *

Not too long afterwards, and the six titans were making their way to the Wayne Enterprise building. Cyborg was at the wheel of the T-Car, with Robin, Beast Boy and Gale as passengers. "What's the situation?" Beast Boy asked.

"A pair of metahumans broke into Wayne Enterprise's labs to steal some kind of computer chips," he spoke into his communicator so Raven and Starfire, who were flying overhead, could hear him too. "They're both still inside though."

They sped towards their destination and arrived at the building in a short time. The boys jumped out of the car and were joined by the girls as they rushed inside. "Thank goodness you're here," a guard said when he saw the Titans. If he was surprised by Gale, he showed no sign of it. "They broke into two separate labs. One of them is a few floors from the roof and the other's on the fifteenth floor."

"Cyborg, Beast Boy, you two and I are going to chase after the one of floor fifteen. Gale, Starfire, Raven, the three of you go outside and head to the roof to cut off the second. Titans, go!" They split into their assigned groups and went their own ways.

Gale stuck went back out with the two female Titans and they all flew towards the top of the tall skyscraper. After they landed, they were about to start going down to catch the metahuman, when the latch burst open. Raven and Gale both used their powers and created a wall to shield them all. The smoke cleared to reveal a short boy about their age, with a balding head and snake like black eyes. Apart from that, he wore a pitch black shirt and pants, with an emerald green belt and boots of the same color. "Who are you?" Raven demanded.

"My name issss Serpenthia." He spoke in a way that sounds like hissing.

"Please, why are you doing such things?" Starfire asked.

"Becausssse, the headmaster assssked me to," he responded.

"Headmaster? You mean the Hive?" Raven guessed.

"Yessss, that issss correct. Now, you will move out of the way, or I will have to forcccccce you." Following his words, the snake boy started to change. He expanded, his skin changing into the same color as his belt. He fell forward, his arms and legs shifting into those of a four legged being and a long serpent like tail growing from his back. His neck stretched out and his head became akin to that of a dragon, while four more heads, mirror images of the first emerged from besides the first. When he was finished, the boy had changed into a monstrous creature three times as tall as before.

"What is that thing?" Gale asked.

"He's changed into a hydra," Raven explained. "A creature from Greek mythology."

"_Yessss,_" the center head spoke in the boy's voice. "_And now, prepare to suffer_."

That said, the hydra charged at the three Titans. They all split, avoiding the monster's snatching heads. But one of them turned around with surprising speed and zoomed towards Gale, its fangs mouth opened wide. He rapidly materialized his transparent sword and severed the head aimed at him. The creature screeched in pain at its loss, but the other heads seemed like they were smiling at what had happened.

"This can't be good," Gale commented as the three of them regrouped on the side of the roof opposite from the creature.

"It isn't," Raven said. "According to mythology, when a Hydra's head it cut, two more grow in its place." To confirm her words, the headless neck split in two, with a head that grew at each end.

"Well this sucks."

The beast charged the Titans again, who took to the air to fight it off. Starfire peppered one of the heads' eyes, but the creature jumped onto the large letters that indentified the building as Wayne Enterprise and leapt at the alien girl who had to abandon her assault to evade its attack. Raven picked up the largest piece of the door that remained and used her powers to hurl it at the creature, though one of the heads simply caught it in its mouth and sent it at Gale. He dispersed his sword and conjured a shield to block the incoming projectile.

"Gale, Starfire," Raven called out to her teammates. "Try to hold it off for a bit."

In response to such, Starfire shot out her eyebeams at the creature and struck it in the center of its chest. Gale then dove to the side and sent a small wave of air at the monster's left front leg, cutting into the skin a little and causing it to growl angrily. The creature tried to lunge at Raven, who was floating in mid air while concentrating, but Starfire stopped it by grabbing its tail and Gale materialized a large transparent hammer in his hands and slammed it into a bunch of the Hydra's heads, pushing it back.

"If we can sever all its heads, Serpenthia will return to normal," Raven said.

"How are we going to manage that if his heads keeping growing?" Gale asked as he shot out a gust of wind to push the hydra back.

"We have to burn the stumps before it happens."

"I can do this with my starbolts or eyebeams," Starfire pointed out.

With the knowledge of how to defeat the hydra, they emerged victorious in little time, despite the creature's resistance. Gale or Raven would slice off the heads, followed by Starfire who would use her use her radioactive powers to fry the bleeding stumps before more heads could grow. When the last head hit the ground and the neck was burned, the rest of the body began the reverse transformation process. The boy Serpenthia lay unharmed on the ground, if still unconscious.

"Victory is ours!" Starfire exclaimed. "Tell us, friend Raven, how did you know how we could defeat the monster?"

"I probed its mind and found out that it'd revert to normal without the heads," Raven explained in a matter of fact voice. "As for getting rid of the heads, in the stories of Hercules, when he fought the Hydra, he cut the headsoff then burned them with a torch."

Before Gale had the chance to comment, a lone figure emerged from the doorway onto the rooftop. It was a young girl dressed in red and blue clothes with a simple black eye mask and her silvery gray hair held in a ponytail. Apart from that, she held a middle aged man dressed in a white lab coat by the scruff of his neck, but he was bound and gagged. "How'd you get past Robin and the others?" Gale asked.

"A little trick, like this." She snapped her fingers and suddenly there were ten copies of the girl holding the scientist near the edge.

"Illusions," Raven said.

"Very good," the girl's voice taunted them.

"But which one is real?" Starfire wondered.

"Isn't that a dilemma? You'll have to decide quickly, or Mr. White Coat's going to take a big fall." Just as the girl and the illusions hovered a foot in the air, Gale sped towards one of them in particular. By the surprised expression on her face, it was the real one. Unfortunately, despite his speed, the girl managed to throw the scientist over the edge.

Gale pushed the girl back towards Raven and Starfire in passing, then folded his wings against his back and dove after the falling man. Keeping his eyes fixed on his target, he zoomed like peregrine falcon after its prey and caught the man in his arms. He then opened his wings and pulled up, passing no more than a few feet from the ground. Gale stopped on the sidewalk and freed the bound man, though he frowned when he recognized him.

"I didn't think you'd return after last time," the man spoke with a sneer on his face.

"Shut up, old man." Completely ignoring him afterwards, Gale leapt in the air and took flight to rejoin the Titans. When he reached the roof, he found all the other Titans, along with the girl and boy both being detained. "That guy's safe on the ground," Gale announced.

"Good job." Robin shook his hand while Beast Boy and Cyborg clapped him on the back for his success. "Here," Robin said as he handed him a communicator. "You've earned it."

Gale smiled slightly as he took the offering. "Thanks."

* * *

Following their victory against the two hive kids, who had been taken into custody by the police, the Titans had introduced their newest member to the media. There had been questions asked about the nature of the attack and Gale himself, which were answered to a certain degree. After they were finished, the Titans all piled up in the T-Car and drove back to the tower.

"Hey, guys," Robin spoke up as they stepped out into the tower. "Why don't you all just go to the main room while Cyborg and I go pick up a few things for the… celebrations." The robotic teen smiled gleefully at the hidden meaning behind Robin's words, though he made sure to hide it before Gale looked at either of them.

"Come on, dude!" Beast Boy said. "Let's go!"

Accompanied by four of his friends, Gale went back to the main room where Beast Boy proceeded to pull out all manner of junk food they had available and played rock music on the sound system. The green teenager peppered him with questions about their fight against Serpenthia and how he had saved the scientist from his fall. He answered them, while leaving out mention of his knowing the man he'd saved.

Gale turned around when he heard the music being turned off. Cyborg and Robin had come back, each carrying a box which they dropped on the floor. "Oh, Gale." Robin spoke with a grin on his face. "I'm afraid there's one more thing that needs to be done before you officially become a Titan."

"It's pretty simple, really," Cyborg said, grinning as well.

Gale then happened to notice that Beast Boy was sporting a similar expression, while Starfire was beaming with joy and even Raven had a small smirk. "Somehow, I have an impending feeling of doom hanging over me."

"It's not that bad," Beast Boy said.

"Ooookayyyyyy." Gale sounded less than sure.

Robin smiled evilly. "It's just the little matter of initiation." He and Cyborg took a pink tutu and wig, as well as a rubber chicken out of the boxes.

Gale stood still as he stared at the items in question. 'Oh crap!'

He soon found himself swarmed on all sides by the others. After a vicious but brief struggle, Gale had had the wig and tutu forced on him, in addition to a number of embarrassing things, and the rubber chicken had been stuffed into his mouth. "So, how does it feel?" Starfire asked.

Gale spat out the rubber chicken and glared at his fellow Titans. "Despite appearances, I am raging and full of hate for you guys."

"Welcome to our world."

* * *

Finally, Gale is now a Titan. If you don't mind dropping off a review with your opinion about this chapter, that'd be fun. Peace out!


	9. School's Back at the HIVE

Disclaimer: La didadiadiadiasjdfolds;lk and I still don't own the Teen Titans

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**School's Back at the HIVE**

It was late enough in the night which surrounded Jump City. The majority of the citizen's in the great metropolis were at home, and illumination was generally dimmed, casting a darkness across the city, though the moon did its share in keeping a certain amount of light upon the place. But still, a short distance out into the sea, more specifically, Titans' Tower, there was a certain amount of activity.

The residents of the 'T' shaped building were currently all located in the main room, doing different things. Gale and Raven had quietly been playing chess for some time, both of them being pretty much evenly matched. Beast Boy, Robin and Cyborg were engaged in a life or death struggle on the game station. And as for Starfire, she was merely humming to herself as she attempted to follow the instructions for a 'rather difficult earth recipe' for sugar cookies. Apart from the noise the three video game competitors were making, it was relatively quiet.

Regardless of such, they were generally on alert since the raid on Wayne Enterprises by the two HIVE Academy kids. More so, that had been followed not too long afterwards by another one. Three people had raided a large electronic store, attempting to make off with most of the material. The three of them had been triplets. Their powers had been that when they would link their hands together, all three of them would fade into the background, more like a chameleon's camouflage than invisibility. They had put up a fight against the Titans, and one of them had even almost gotten away, but the six super powered teenagers had simply been too much for them and they had been vanquished and taken into custody by the police.

"That's it," Best Boy muttered as he pressed the buttons on the controller. "Almost there. Getting closer." They were playing a WW ll 3-d fighting game, with all of them competing against each other, even if they'd occasionally gang up on one. The playing field was a city in ruins, with Beast Boy's soldier walking next to a beaten down brick building.

"Hey, B.B," Cyborg spoke up.

"What is it?" he asked, his attention still focused on the TV screen.

"Bye, bye." The half metal teen's words were then followed up by a grenade dropping from the top of the building and right next to Best Boy's soldier. It exploded before Beast Boy had the chance to react and took him out of the game.

"What? Who? How? When?" Beast Boy said in shock.

"Booyah!" Cyborg cheered. But his victory was short lived, for soon after, his character was taken down by a sniper, courtesy of Robin. "Aww man!"

"Ha! I win!" Robin exclaimed.

"No fair!" the green teenager complained.

"Sucks, doesn't it?" Robin smirked at his friends' loss.

"Robin?" Starfire spoke up. "Might I possibly request your help in the fabrication of these, earth sugar cookies?"

"Umm, sure Star." The Titan leader leapt off the couch and went over to the kitchen area where Starfire was. "So, what do you need help with?"

She took a spoon and scooped out a bit of the dough. "Could you please tell me if I have used enough sugar in the recipe?"

"… Okay." Unable to refuse Starfire's request, Robin grabbed the spoon and stuck it in his mouth, somewhat uneasy of the result. Almost as soon as he tasted the dough, Robin's eyes widened and his hair spiked out even more. "Ummmm, Star?" he said slowly. "Exactly how much sugar did you use?"

"Well, I was attempting to make twice as many, therefore, I believe it was approximately six cups."

"That explains a few things." He looked carefully at the written recipe and pointed the corresponding amount. "I think you probably just read it wrong. A single recipe calls for three cups of flour, not sugar."

"Oopsie! I shall have to start it over again."

"That's alright, just try to be careful next time." He then went back to join the others on the couch. But, the moment that Robin sat down, a certain dreaded and potentially embarrassing noise came from his general vicinity.

"PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!" All the activity in the common room ceased immediately. Beast Boy and Cyborg looked at the Boy Wonder, barely able to refrain from bursting out with laughter. Robin got up again and discovered a whoopee cushion underneath his seat. He grabbed it and held it up so that Beast Boy could see it clearly.

"Well then, anything to say in your defense?"

"I know it looks bad, but I swear, I didn't do it!" the shape shifter protested vehemently. "Come on, Robin," he said, backing away from the enraged masked boy. "You don't need to get angry. I didn't even-" The green skinned teenager shifted into a mouse and scrambled to get away as Robin went to lunge at him. He then became a fly and flew to the ceiling.

"Hey, Gale," Raven spoke up when she noted that he wasn't paying as much attention to the chess board as he was to Robin chasing their green friend around the room.

"Hmmm?"

"You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with that?" she pointed to Robin chasing their green friend across the room.

"Why Raven, whatever are you talking about?" he said, with the shadow of a smile on his face.

"For one, you're paying too much attention to them. Secondly, you're enjoying it too much, which I rather find suspicious. And third, your tone kind of gives it away."

"Well… I suppose you're right in that accusation. I may have been the one to orchestrate the whole thing." He grinned at this. "Robin, you can stop trying to beat up Beast Boy. I'm actually the one responsible." Robin and Beast Boy, now in his normal form, stopped in their tracks.

"Seriously?" the team leader asked.

"Yeah, seriously."

"How'd you do it?"

"Well, the trap was already in place before you sat down. And when you got up, all it took to inflate it was a breeze. By the way, I don't suppose you're curious as to why I did it?"

"Uhh, yeah."

"Does the word initiation means anything to you? Or payback?"

"Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Whoa! Didn't see that one coming," Cyborg said. "But don't you count on getting me that easily." Gale simply grinned in response.

"Gale," Raven spoke in a warning tone.

"You don't have to worry about that kind of thing coming from me, Raven. I already decided to spare you since you're both nice and a good person." Raven could detect no sarcasm in his voice, which she found reassuring.

"Thanks. Good to know."

Beast Boy was about to launch a complaint against the fact that Raven was exempt from Gale's reprisal, but then the alarm blared throughout the tower. "What's it this time?" he asked instead.

"Robbery at Jump City first national bank," Robin answered. "Let's go!"

* * *

The bank in question was empty at this time of night, its employees and customers were nowhere around, given that it was closed. But, that hadn't stopped a group of people from sneaking in and prying open the vault door. Through the open door, four kids were in the process of snatching whatever money, jewels and other valuables caught their attention. One of them was a big muscular boy with a shaggy mane of hair. The other boy was smaller, had a jet backpack, beady eyes and goggles on his forehead. One of the girls was dressed in black and blue, her pink hair spread in a 'V' shape. They were also known as Mammoth, Gizmo and Jinx, three of the Titans' well known enemies.

The fourth, was a similarly built girl who wore a blue skirt, red sleeveless shirt and a round open faced gray helmet. Apart from all that, she hovered in the air thanks to two small white feathery wings on her back which stuck out through her shirt. "Hey, Angel," Jinx spoke to the winged girl. "Do you think this looks better on me, or this?" she asked, holding up two necklaces, one with a diamond and the other with an emerald.

"Hmmm, I think the diamond looks better," she answered as she stuffed a bunch of hundred dollar bills into a purse.

"Move it, sludcrunchers! We're running out of time!" Gizmo reminded them.

Mammoth struggled to lift up a pallet stacked with gold bars, before stopping briefly. "I could use a hand here!"

"How about a foot?" Mammoth looked back in the direction the new voice had come from, only to be on the receiving end of a powerful kick from Cyborg which sent him crashing into the opposite wall. The four HIVE kids looked and saw all six titans standing before the entrance of the room they were in. "So, you've been recruiting lately?"

"You're one to talk," Jinx shot back, giving Gale a stare which did little to faze him.

"I'm just along for the ride," Angel said.

"Then you're going down like the rest. Titans, go!" Their leader's battle cry uttered, the titans rushed towards their opponents.

The four dropped their loot and went to meet them head on. Gizmo pressed a button on his suit and seven holographic duplications of the little boy appeared around him. Robin ducked as one of them flew towards him, then spun around and swung his staff at another, this one which disappeared when struck. Mammoth then came down at him, but he jumped back and away from him.

When the large boy landed, he struck the floor with his fist, sending out a shockwave that moved across from him. Raven put up a dome of black energy around her to block it. She dispersed it after and went to strike back, but Jinx connected with a drop kick that knocked her back. Gale landed and caught her before she hit the floor. Jinx followed up by sending purple waves of energy at the two of them. Gale erected a shield of air which remained steadfast against the assault. A bag of money was thrown their way by Angel, and caught by Raven's powers, who redirected it towards the pink haired witch. Gale then spread his wings again and took to the air, going after his winged rival.

They got into an aerial dogfight, spinning, rolling, diving and executing many flying tricks they knew. In one instance, they were side by side, throwing punches at one another, when Gale fell a little lower and briefly covered his wings in an armor of air. That way, when he rolled, his wings smacked into Angel hard enough to upset her balance, though they both had to veer off when Jinx's pink waves collided into the ceiling, causing pieces of it to fall down.

"Three raids in one week?" Cyborg said as he blasted some falling debris with his sonic cannon. "Man, this is seriously getting old."

"The Hive Academy's new leader must be up to something." Robin deflected more of ceiling's pieces with his staff and smashed apart a bigger part, before having to do a back flip to avoid getting crushed by Mammoth falling down and stomping his foot.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Jinx taunted. She twirled around like a ballerina, sending out more pink waves, but was interrupted when a starbolt struck her in the back.

"Yes we would!" Starfire said, her eyes and hands glowing green from her powers. She continued to throw starbolts at the pink haired girl, who used her gymnastic skills to dodge them.

While his holograms flew around creating mayhem, the real Gizmo was on the higher level, piling gold, jewellery and other valuables into a bag. "Sweet," he said to himself. "This crud should be worth-" but he was interrupted when a large blob of spit hit him in the side of the head. "Hey!" He turned around and saw a green lama standing not too far from him. It then shifted into a velociraptor and charged at him, causing the little boy to scream in fright and fly away on his jetpack. Fortunately for him, Mammoth was able to punch Cyborg away, thus giving him the time to pick up a large chunk of the fallen ceiling and hurl it at Beast Boy, allowing for Gizmo to get away easily.

The techno able kid flew down and towards the door they'd come in, when Cyborg charged Mammoth and shoulder tackled him, sending him right next to his teammate. Gizmo grinned as he pulled out a remote control and pressed one of the buttons. Cyborg had a look of confusion on his face, until he was pulled off his feet and trapped on the ceiling due to a large magnet attached there. "Oh, you did not just do WHAT I THINK YOU DID!" he shouted angrily.

"Check it out, the world's dumbest magnet." Gizmo laughed at Cyborg's predicament, until Gale spun on himself, creating a twister which slammed into Angel and forced her to the ground. Jinx was given a similar treatment when Raven struck with her powers, sending the pink haired girl with the others. "Joking," he said upon seeing Robin, Raven, Starfire and Gale standing against them. "Let's blow this place."

Jinx then sent a flurry of pink energy waves at the floor, tearing it apart and sending loads of debris towards the Robin, Raven, Gale and Starfire who had to dodge or block them. Cyborg managed to push himself off the ceiling, even if he ripped off a piece with the magnet attached to his back. "Yo! Nobody pulls a science fair on me and gets away with it!" he called out to the retreating HIVE kids.

"It's okay, Cyborg," Robin reassured him. "We'll see them again. Sooner than they think." He held up his communicator, the screen displaying a map with a beeping red dot.

* * *

Early enough the following morning, Robin had gathered his team in the main room. They stood in front of the TV screen, looking at a map, which the most prominent feature was the spot marked with a yellow 'H'. "Tracking device," Beast Boy noted. "Very sneaky. Looks like the HIVE's secret headquarter isn't so secret anymore."

"So, what're we waiting for?" Raven asked.

"We need to know what they're planning first," Robin said. "Otherwise, we could walk right into a trap."

"Do I hear an undercover assignment coming on?" Beast Boy rubbed his hands in anticipation. "Lucky for you guys, I happen to be a master of disguise." He then changed into a small monkey, then a kangaroo, before settling into a green mongoose and not moving at all.

"Yeah, a green mongoose is gonna blend right in," Raven said sarcastically.

"You'd have better luck if you went in with 'I am Beast Boy, a Teen Titan' written on you," Gale added. "After all, Gizmo, Mammoth and Jinx would recognize you upon sight."

"Sorry Beast Boy," Robin said. "I was thinking of someone with a slightly better disguise."

"What're you gonna do? Dress Cyborg up like a washing machine?" He tapped the half metal teen right beside him, which caused him to fall flat on his back. He screamed in fright and jumped in the air, turning into a gecko and clinging to the ceiling.

"That isn't me," Cyborg announced as he walked in, a remote control in his hands. "That's my fully robotic replacement. Not nearly as good as the original, but he can bench press a bus." Starfire, Robin and Raven looked at it up close. The alien teenager knocked on its head. It then shouted out: "Booyah!" and its head bounced off, thus surprising the three of them. "He still has a few bugs to work out."

Beast Boy came down from the ceiling and changed into his usual form. "No fair! I may be all green, but he's half metal. How come he gets to go?"

"Because I have a new toy," he said tauntingly. Cyborg held out his hands, revealing a pair of simple metal rings on both middle fingers. He touched them together, which created a bright light and made the others avert their eyes. When they looked again, they could see Cyborg, except that he was way different. He was wearing a pair of gray shorts, a white muscle shirt, and his entire body was devoid of cybernetic parts, replaced by his chocolaty colored skin.

"A holographic generator!" Starfire realized excitedly.

"Dude! You look…"

"Unplugged," Raven finished Beast Boy's words.

"Cool," Gale said. "Even I can't see through it. So you're sure to be safe from anyone else blowing your cover."

"Nice work," Robin complimented. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were just, normal."

"Umm… thanks."

* * *

Later, Cyborg found himself in his room, checking out the holographic representation of his old self by doing various poses which illustrated his muscles. "Oh yeah, baby! Somebody's been working out!" At one point, he chanced to notice Starfire's reflection in the mirror, showing that she was standing in his doorway. "Whoa! Hey!" he said, his face beet red from embarrassment. "Star… I didn't… How long have you been standing there?"

"Forgive me. Your door was open."

"It's cool, you can come in. I was just checking out the old unimproved me. I'd forgotten what it was like to have real hands… well, almost real."

They are most convincing. However, my preference is… for the original version."

"This is the original version." They stood there in silence, Starfire placing a hand on his shoulder, until Robin interrupted.

"Cyborg, it's time to go."

"Alright then."

* * *

After being dropped off by his friends within a safe distance of the academy's location, he'd walked the rest of the distance until reaching his destination. He'd gone through the gates at the entrance and gotten to the reception desk where he'd simply had to fill in a few papers to get in. That process done, he'd been assigned a room, gone there to dump off a couple things he'd brought along, and then made his way to the cafeteria. He was currently seen as wearing a silvery gray headband, dark gray t-shirt, black pants and blue boots. The cafeteria had quite a crowd, even if it wasn't full.

He picked up a tray, got his lunch and went to find a seat. "Okay," he muttered to himself. "Just play it cool, and you'll blend right in." He stopped in his tracks when he noticed that all the students had stopped their chatter and were staring at him, including the girl who'd accompanied Gizmo, Jinx and Mammoth on their attempted bank robbery. He brought up his tray and sniffed the food. "Ahhhh, sloppy joes. Just like the mad scientist who created me used to make." He let out a sigh of relief as they all went back to their usual business.

The disguised teen found an unoccupied table and sat down on one of the chairs. "You're in my seat," a gruff and familiar voice resounded behind him. He turned around and took note of Mammoth, Gizmo and Jinx.

"Hey newbie," Gizmo said. "This is our table. Wadda you think you're doing here?"

"He looks familiar," Jinx observed. "Did you go to Darkway Prep?"

"What's your name, punk?"

"Probably something lame. Lemme guess, Snot Man. No wait, Captain Nosepicker."

"Do you even have any powers?" Jinx asked doubtfully.

Mammoth grabbed Cyborg's sloppy joe and swallowed it in one bite. "I'm hungry, now get lost."

"Yeah, scum. Take a hike." Gizmo dropped a disk shaped metal object onto the floor. It slid so that is was positioned directly underneath his chair. A boxing glove extended from its, sending him flying in the air and sliding down the table. All the students present burst out in laughter at his predicament. He got to his feet a growled angrily, then touched his rings together, changing his hologram to portray himself as if made of stone. He brought his fist down on the table, which crumbled with the impact.

"My name is Stone. And it looks like you need to find a new table." All those who'd previously been laughing now looked at him with a measure of respect in their eyes.

"Not bad," Mammoth commented.

"**Attention!**" a voice spoke through the speakers. "**Gizmo, Jinx, Mammoth and Stone, report to the arena for combat practice.**"

"Let's just see how well he does next." Not knowing the way to the arena, the Cyborg, or Stone, simply followed the other three. They walked in through the hallway leading to the lower level. The four of them were on the floor level of a room shaped like a giant hexagon. Like the rest of the building, the floor and walls were made of hexagonal tiles. There were seats higher up, where the other students were watching from.

A pillar rose from the floor where the four of them were standing. At the opposite end of the room, rose a couple more tiles, making a pedestal with two antennas indicating the end of the course. "Gamma manoeuvre," Jinx said, then nimbly jumped off at the same time that Gizmo activated his jet pack and took off.

"Hold on! I don't know that," Cyborg spoke up.

"Then get out of the way!" Mammoth jumped off, and Cyborg chose to follow him.

Four robots rose from the floor and came at him. They were similar to some of those that Slade had used, except that these were white and black. "Time to kick butt."

Turrets emerged from the walls, firing pellets of energy at Jinx who was in the lead. But she simply cartwheeled and flipped her way through them without being touched. Gizmo came up behind, shooting small rockets from his backpack, blowing apart the turrets. Looking back almost cost him, because metal spikes came out from the floor as he flew over a certain section. Fortunately for him, he was able to manoeuvre his way across this part safely. Mammoth followed next, his strength and resilience allowing for him to plough his way through the spikes rather than having to move around them.

The two boys looked stopped for a moment and looked back at Cyborg's progress. At the moment, he was being held back by three of the robots. "Ha! The newb is toast!" Gizmo jeered.

"Hey rocko! Had enough?" Mammoth taunted.

"Quit fooling around. The headmaster's watching." Jinx pointed to a man standing behind the bleachers who was partly obscured by shadows. The three HIVE kids turned around and continued towards the end of the course. But unfortunately for them, two turrets emerged from the floor, safe that instead of shooting, both lanced out with a pair of tendrils which ensnared them.

Pushing himself just a bit harder, Cyborg threw all the robots off of him. He cracked his knuckles and started running again. Another turret rose and tried to grab him with its gray tentacles, but he jumped in the air, stomped on both and ran past. He looked back at the trapped kids, and saw two more towers come up and prepare to fire. They were saved when a pair of floor tiles, thrown by the new student, cut the tendrils holding them and struck the charging turrets. They got up, Jinx with his help, and ran to the end, without any further obstacles. A beep resounded when they reached the pedestal.

Cyborg changed from his powered up hologram to the regular Stone character. "Yeah, now that's what I'm-"

"Zip it graffle brain," Gizmo advised.

"You, Stone." The headmaster was a man with gray hair who was wearing a white robe that fell to the floor, as well as a black tabard with a strange yellow design. He hovered down on a floating tile and stood right in front of him. "Sneaking into my school, destroying my drones, making my top students look like amateur pickpockets! You must think you're very clever. But you're not clever… You're brilliant," he said, his expression changing into a smile. "Well done Mr. Stone. Well done." Cyborg let out a sigh of relief at this. "I see a bright future for you."

"Thanks. Uhh… great school you have here Mr…"

"Blood. Brother Blood, at your service." He extended his hand which Cyborg shook. Then he turned towards Gizmo, Mammoth and Jinx. "And as for you three…" They trembled in fright as he spoke to them with his eyes turning red. "Failure will not be tolerated! You were already sent back after graduating once. Fail me again, and I'll have you sent to your doom! Do I make myself clear?" he asked in a softer voice, though with just as much danger in it.

Their eyes glowed red as they answered. "Yes Brother."

"Outstanding." He floated back up in order to address all the students. "In a few days, I will unveil your project, the culmination of all your hard work over the past few weeks." The eyes of all the students in the bleachers turned red like the other three. "And when it is unleashed, our foes will tremble in our wake. Tremble!"

They, except Cyborg, all cheered at the headmaster's words. "Brother Blood! Brother Blood! Brother Blood!"

* * *

A few days later, Robin, Starfire, Raven, Gale and Beast Boy were in the main room while waiting for Cyborg to make contact with them and report. Robin paced back and forth, Starfire, Raven and Gale stood by, and Beast Boy was having fun dressing up the fully robotic Cyborg. "Cyborg's communication relay has been deactivated," the alien girl noted.

"Could be interference," Robin suggested. "Let's just give him a minute."

"Besides, who needs him?" the green teen asked. "This Cyborg is way more fun." The robotic Cyborg had its arms in an Egyptian pose, one leg stretched out to the side, a fisherman's hat on its head and a vest with a yellow duck.

"Booyah!"

"Any chance we could replace Beast Boy with a robot?" Raven said, annoyance obvious in her tone and on her face.

"It'd be hard to find one as annoying," Gale added.

"Cut it out," Robin said. "I don't think Cyborg would appreciate-"

"Appreciate what?" Cyborg spoke up from the TV screen. "The fact that he's already the top butt kicker in his class?"

"Cyborg!" Beast Boy hurriedly took the dressed up clothes off the robotic version of his friend.

"Your infiltration is successful, yes?" Starfire asked.

"You bet. Had a few close calls though."

"What've you learned?"

"The headmaster's some weird old man and the students seem to practically worship him. It's creepy I tell you. He's got them working on a class project. Sounds big, but no details yet."

"Well, find out, and get out. The longer you're in there, the more dangerous it gets."

"Believe me, I don't plan on sticking around. Cyborg out." The screen then flickered out.

"Let's hope he's alright," Gale muttered.

* * *

At the moment, Cyborg was unsure as to whether or not he was alright. After having finished communicating with Robin and the others, he's turned the hologram around his arm back on and continued walking down the hall, only to run into Gizmo, Jinx and Mammoth who came through a sliding door. "Well, wadda ya know? It's the headmaster's scrumbuffin pet. Get im."

Cyborg stepped back as the three of them advanced on him in a seemingly predator like way. "Don't bother trying to run," Jinx said.

"You won't get far," Mammoth added. "The whole school's in on it."

"In on what?"

"Wadda ya think, pie for brains? Your initiation." A pair of mechanical arms on Gizmo's backpack pulled out a pink tutu and a unicycle.

"Ha, ha!" Cyborg laughed nervously. "That's it?"

"Don't laugh," Mammoth said. "You have to wear the tutu and ride the unicycle in front of everyone." Cyborg's face blanched upon hearing this.

Soon after, Cyborg was creeping around the hallway with the tutu on and the unicycle at hand. He came through a door and looked around. To his dismay, he found Jinx waiting for him with an armful of books for him to carry. The pink haired girl gave them all to him but one. He then positioned himself on the unicycle and did his best to follow her without dropping anything or losing his balance.

When they went through the next door, they came into the cafeteria, where a bunch of the students, if not all of them, were currently located. As soon as they came in, it became so silent that one could have heard a pin drop. Then they all exploded in laughter at the ridiculousness of Cyborg's predicament.

* * *

Other the next couple of days, Cyborg found himself taking part in the HIVE's many different classes and activities. Amongst other things he did, was spend time training in the gym, mostly lifting weights in different sorts of exercises. More than once, he caught sight of Brother Blood looking at his progress with a smile on his face.

Apart from such, there were also a few 'incidents' that happened around him. Once such example being at lunch time in the cafeteria. "Lunch is super today," Gizmo said with a grin. "And the mashed potatoes are dynamite." Cyborg happened to notice a tiny bomb in his mashed potatoes, and flicked it in Gizmo's with his spoon when he wasn't looking. "What're you slut faces laughing at?" he asked Mammoth and Jinx. They simply acted as if there was no cause for it, until the bomb exploded and smeared Gizmo's face in mashed potatoes, at which they laughed and he growled.

Another time was in class. Brother Blood was standing at the front, writing on the black board. "So," he said as he turned around. "That's why any good doomsday threat needs, what?" Gizmo raised his hand as high as he good to attract his attention, but it turned out to be useless. "Mr. Stone."

"Umm… effective misdirection?" he guessed.

"Exactly. Moving on." Jinx looked at Cyborg with a fond smile on her face, while Gizmo was angry enough to be blowing steam out his ears.

Sometime after that class, Cyborg found himself cornered in one of the halls by Gizmo, Mammoth and Jinx. He backed up against a wall, but to his surprise, the HIVE hex caster pulled out a communicator similar to those of the Titans, except that it was shaped a little differently and had an 'H' on the front. "Congratulations. You're one of us."

"But that doesn't mean we have to like you!" Gizmo made sure to say.

* * *

Back at Titan's Tower, the four current residents, along with the Cyborg copy, were lounging about in the main room. Beast Boy was playing around with the copy's remote, while Robin and Starfire were leaning against the wall, waiting for Cyborg to call them. As for Raven and Gale, both of them were sitting on the couch with a book in their hands. The winged boy was reading his small, plain, black cover book. He went over a few entries of after The Destroyer's arrival.

"_Having annihilated Father Sky, The Destroyer has taken the time to desecrate his domain. While he was busy doing so, he sent many of his minions to take care of me, given that I was close. They are creatures of evil, with the only thought being to obey their master._"

"_Despite their numbers, The Destroyer's minions were no match for me, but victory was not their goal. I managed to defeat them fast enough to deliver the news to my siblings and our mother before he himself would choose to come for me._"

"_Now finished utterly destroying any remains of our father, The Destroyer sits in the sky on a throne of dark flames. This done, he sends hoards of his minions after the people we protect._"

"_He watched from his seat as we unleashed our might upon the invaders. Even though we knew they were not the larger threat, we simply could not abandon the people._"

"_My two brothers, my sister and I have finished fighting off the wave of demons. We have shepherded those we could save into our mother's arms. She will keep them safe while we turn our attention towards The Destroyer._"

"So the plumber says, 'Just because I'm a talking aardvark, doesn't mean I can't drive," Beast Boy said to the Cyborg copy. He then pressed one of the buttons, to which it responded by uttering: "Booyah! Booyah! Booyah!" Raven and Gale looked up from their reading, twin annoyed expressions plastered on their faces. Only Starfire laughed a little at this.

"No word in four days. That's it, I'm calling him." The Titan leader typed at a console on the wall to call Cyborg.

"Robin, please, we may endanger his mission," Starfire said.

"We may yet save his life," Gale spoke up as he and Raven joined the other two.

"True," the teen sorceress agreed. "Something's not right about this whole thing."

"Tell me about it," Beast Boy said, fiddling with the Cyborg controller. "I can't figure out how to make this thing burp." Robot Cyborg twisted its head, blinked, moved its arms, then let out a loud belch in Beast Boy's ear, causing the latter to chuckle at his success. Gale materialized a transparent hammer in one hand and smacked him on the head. "What? I'm trying to make him more realistic."

Robin finished typing on the console. "Cyborg, do you copy? Cyborg, come in."

The TV screen went blank, then showed Cyborg, covered by his usual hologram, sitting at a desk with a lamp next to him. "This isn't a good time guys. We've got a Theory of Mayhem test tomorrow and I'm totally gonna bomb."

"Please tell me you're joking."

"Yeah, umm, sorry I haven't checked in. I've been learning their combat techniques, weapons, armor and we had a dance."

"A dance!" Robin said loudly. "Cyborg, you're there to find out what the HIVE is planning! Not learn to tango!"

"I know. This hasn't exactly been a tea party for me, ok? I just need a little more time."

"Or, maybe it's time we went on the offensive."

* * *

Following his leader's suggestion, Cyborg crept out and snuck through the dim halls to the computer room. He typed at the keyboard for a while, hacking into the system. "I'm in," he said to Robin once he was done the first part.

"Good. Make it quick."

"Okay… I found the mainframe." A three dimensional image uploaded to the screen, showing the schematics of a black and yellow cylindrical device. "Whoa! I think I just found the class project. They're building something called…"

"An ion amplifier," Brother Blood spoke, stepping out from the shadows and into Cyborg's line of sight.

"Who's-" The disguised teen shut off his communication and changed his arm back to correspond with the rest of his cover.

"Well, this is a surprise, Mr. Stone. Or should I say, Cyborg?" The teenager dropped his hologram, shifted his right arm to sonic cannon mode and aimed it at the HIVE headmaster. "Relax, I don't want to fight." He held up the object which Cyborg had seen on the computer. "It's a remarkable weapon, really. Compact, elegant, devastating in its power. But it's nothing, compared to you."

"Wadda you want from me?"

He set the weapon on the desk and walked closer to Cyborg. "Oh, it's not what I want that matters, it's what you want, and what I can give you." The old man's eyes glowed red, and so did Cyborg's normal one. He held his free hand against his head, as Blood placed his on the cannon arm.

"My hand," Cyborg said, seeing it changed to a human one. "I can feel it. It's real." Blood's eyes returned to normal, at which so did the half metal teen's arm. "No!" He fell to his knees.

"Serve me, and I can make you what you once were. I can give back your life." The headmaster placed his hand on the kneeling teen's shoulder, who looked at himself, then at Blood.

"I'll do anything you ask."

"Good. Then I think it's time that we arrange a little welcoming committee. Gizmo, Mammoth, Jinx, Angel, and of course, you."

* * *

The following day saw the Titans deciding that they were going to pull out their friend from his mission. They snuck into the academy, even with the problem of dragging along with fully robotic Cyborg. When they got to a door leading to one of the hallways, Raven phased through the floor and emerged on the other side. She looked around, making sure that there was no one else, then told her teammates to come over. "Clear."

"Beast Boy, hurry up," Robin said when they went through.

The green teenager came after them, pushing the Cyborg copy in a way that would have made enough noise to alert everyone in the academy. Fortunately, Gale had moulded slippers of air around its feet to dampen the noise. "Next time Cyborg builds a robot, he better leave instructions."

"Booyah!" it cried out. "Boo-" Beast Boy shifted into a starfish and clamped himself onto the copy's mouth.

"Let's just hope no one's close around here," Gale said. "Or else we're screwed."

Robin pulled out his communicator which beeped lightly. "I'm picking up Cyborg's signal." They walked a little bit further and stopped. "And it's coming from… directly below us." Immediately after the words left Robin's mouth, the floor underneath them fell down, dropping them a ways below. When they reached the bottom, the light turned on around them, revealing that they were in the middle of the arena.

"Not good," Beast Boy commented.

"The Teen Titans." They looked back and saw Brother Blood coming in from one of the upper doorways, standing on a floating floor tile. "So nice to make your acquaintance. I'd introduce you to my students, but I'm fairly certain you've already met." They turned around and at the other end of the room, they saw the four HIVE kids they'd fought at the bank, along with Cyborg, in his powered up Stone hologram.

"Attack pattern, Alpha!" he cried out. The four of them leapt into action following that, leaving the Titans surprised at their friend's actions.

A pod extended from Gizmo's backpack and fired a salve of little rockets at them. Beast Boy changed into a gorilla, grabbed the Cyborg copy and ran out of the way. Starfire picked up Robin and flew up like the others to avoid the incoming projectiles. "No mercy," Blood said. "No mercy!"

Angel went straight after the winged Titan. As she flew head on towards him, she pressed a button on the side of her helmet, at which two small holes opened up and fired a pair of red lasers at Gale. With his incredible eyesight to alert him, he saw it coming soon enough so that he was able to dodge it. She continued to fire a bunch of lasers at him, which he manoeuvred his way around. When they came close to colliding, Gale dove down sharply, aiming towards Mammoth. He flipped in mid air and landed on the muscular boy, kicking off to take flight again.

Mammoth was knocked down as a result, but got up and tried to grab Gale. Yet he was too slow, so instead he ran at Starfire, who, having let go of Robin already, was flinging Starbolts at him. He ran through the smoke they kicked up and slammed into one of the pillars, toppling it towards the alien girl, though she flew around to avoid getting crushed by it.

Jinx cartwheeled to avoid a stray explosive disk, then focused on Raven, sending out a series of pink energy waves. The Titans' sorceress ducked and weaved in the air, avoiding the offensive move, and retaliated by lifting up two pairs of pillars from the floor with her black telekinetic energy and hurling them at her opponent. When the first one got close enough, she ran forwards, leaping into the air and hopping from one to the other. At the last one, she jumped off and conjured a large blast of her pink energy, which Raven countered with a black shield.

Gizmo changed his backpack so that four large spider like legs extended from it, and chased after Robin in this manner. The Titan leader jumped onto one of the shorter columns and hopped to another slightly taller one. As he was doing so, he drew a birdarang from his belt and hurled it at Gizmo, cutting off the two metal spider legs on his right. This he followed up by leaping off his perch and hitting him with a flying kick.

Cyborg came running at Robin right after this. The Boy Wonder jumped back and then lashed out with a flurry of fast paced kicks. The disguised teenager threw a punch at him, which he ducked under, and a second which pushed aside. "Cyborg, take it easy." Instead of heading those words, he seized Robin, spun around and tossed him in the air.

He was fortunate enough to have Gale dive down and catch him underneath the arms. The air controlling metahuman was being pursued by Angel who flew relentlessly, shooting laser beams which he continued to avoid. "Robin," Gale said as he flew away from his pursuer. "I'll throw you. Go for the helmet."

True to his words, Gale did a half roll, so that he was flying upside down, then pushed Robin away and used his powers to throw him towards the winged girl. This was done quickly enough that Angel was taken by surprise. Robin landed on her back, the added weight forcing her to go down. He then grabbed her helmet, pulled it off, revealing short blond hair, and jumped before they crashed. She rolled on the floor a little, before shaking her head and coming to her senses, but by now her helmet was already smashed.

At this time, Beast Boy was crouched behind the Cyborg copy while trying to figure out how to make it fight. "Come on, come on! How do you make this thing work? Oh, attack mode," he said upon seeing a button on the remote. He pressed it and the robot went into action.

"Teen Titans, go!" It then promptly ran, and went through the wall, making a large hole in the process.

"You can't hit me," Gizmo called out from behind Starfire as she was throwing Starbolts at Jinx. She turned around and shot one at him, but the hologram simply disappeared when struck. A load of Gizmos flew in circles around her chanting: "You can't hit me. You can't hit me. You can't hit me." Unable to determine which of them was the real one, she sent out a pulse of green energy, vaporizing all the holograms and messing up his equipment, causing him to go down. "Crud!" Because of this, she was unable to react in time to Mammoth coming at her. He caught the Tamaranean teenager and slammed her into a column, leaving her dazed.

Robin slid back as he blocked one of Cyborg's punches. "Enough, Cyborg." He pulled out a pair of smaller combat staves from his belt and held one at the ready in each hand. "It's time to drop the act."

"This isn't an act." With a primal battle cry, the robotic boy charged like a mad bull. Robin tried to hit him with his staves, but he simply gave him a hard punch which sent him crashing next to Starfire. He walked over to him and went to hit him with a two handed blow, but unexpectedly, the fully robotic Cyborg ran and picked him up at the waist, carrying him until they crashed through the wall. And yet, just after this happened, Cyborg threw his copy back through the hole. As they stared off each other, Beast Boy took a punch from Mammoth and slammed into a pillar next to Robin and Starfire. Raven joined them when she was forced back by Jinx's powers.

At the same time, Gale was in pursuit of Angel and passed by the spot where his fellow Titans were amassed. Gizmo then fired a capsule at them from his backpack. Though Gale derived away from its flight path at the last moment, it still expanded into an orange bubble which trapped Robin, Raven, Beast Boy and Starfire. "Forcefield," the team leader noted.

"Oh children," Blood spoke up. "Do me a favour and take care of that annoying flying boy while Mr. Stone is busy, will you?"

In response, Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo went to assist Angel in fighting against Gale. Faced with the additional threat, Gale starting flying higher and higher, with Angel in pursuit. He continued like this until he came close to the ceiling, then he did a vertical turnabout and kicked off the ceiling, giving himself more momentum and slammed his shoulder hard into Angel's stomach. Knowing that a freefall from such a height would cause her no small amount of harm, he molded a cushion of air for her to drop on.

Diving down, Gale was faced with a chunk of rock thrown at him by Mammoth, but he simply did a spinning whirlwind and blew through it, concentrating enough so that the wind slammed into the muscular HIVE student, knocking him back into the wall. Jinx lashed out with pink energy waves while Gizmo fired a half dozen rockets. Gale lowered himself to floor level and conjured a solid dome of air around himself. The rockets and energy met his unbending protection with little to no effect. Gizmo then tried to shoot another forcefield pod, but Gale dispersed the dome and reformed it into a gust of wind which blew it towards the headmaster instead. Seeing the incoming object, Blood extended his arm and stopped it with a shield of red energy.

Gale was suddenly pushed back by a pair of Jinx's energy waves. "Not so tough now, are you?" she taunted. She ran towards him and jumped in the air, intent on delivering a flying kick. But she was caught off guard when she slowed down a meter away from him, due to the fact that she'd just entered a zone where he'd thickened the air. He then grabbed her extended foot, spun her around and sent her crashing into Gizmo. Gale saw Cyborg hurl his copy into a pillar hard enough to send it toppling back towards him. He zoomed out of the way, stopping next to where Angel lay.

"Oh students," Blood spoke to Jinx, Mammoth and Gizmo. "Why don't you go ahead and bury him?"

"But Angel..." His eyes turned red, at which do did theirs. "Yes Brother." Jinx sent out a large wave of pink energy over Gale's head, Mammoth threw a large piece of a column and Gizmo fired a salve of rockets. The impact they created caused the wall, and the pillars Raven had impaled there to come crashing down. When the smoke cleared, there was a large pile of rubble where Gale and Angel had been.

"Very good," Blood said.

"No," the trapped Titans exclaimed.

All the while, Cyborg had been fighting his full robot replacement. Practically all that time, he'd been pummelling it with little to no reprisal. But when it seemed almost down for the count, it sprung up and connected with an uppercut, shouting "Booyah!"

Cyborg slid back on the floor and got up in a second. "Booyah this." The copy shifted its right arm into sonic cannon, but Cyborg came in too fast and struck with a massive punch that blew apart the arm up to the shoulder. He then proceeded to pound on it repeatedly with his fists. When he was finished, it was broken all over, its circuitry showing underneath. But in the process, he broke one of his rings, causing his hologram to drop.

"I knew it!" Gizmo said. "The stinkin gack bag is one of them!"

"No, he's one of us," Blood interceded, his eyes glowing red.

"And I'm ready to prove it," he responded, his human eye glowing the same color.

"I had a feeling you'd say that. This will amplify your power by magnitudes unimagined." He held up the ion amplifier and attached it to Cyborg's arm, which he shifted into his sonic cannon. "Destroy them for me, and you'll have your reward.

Cyborg walked closer to the forcefield containing his friends and pointed his cannon arm at them. The pile of rubble where Gale had been exploded outward, revealing the Titan in question who happened to be relatively unscathed. "Don't do it."

"Cyborg, no," Robin said.

"Please," Starfire pleaded.

"Come on, buddy, we're your friends," Beast Boy reminded him.

He turned his head towards Gale, then back to the others. "Sorry, but I have new friends... Psyche!" He then turned around and fired a large blast straight for Brother Blood, who just had the time to conjure a red shield to deflect it. It still struck the ceiling, causing the entire building to shake and parts of it to fall down.

"A foolish choice, my friend," Blood said. "Very foolish."

Jinx looked at him with a sad expression. "You could've been one of us."

"I could've been a lot of things." The three HIVE students and the Headmaster hopped on the floating floor tile and flew away from the crumbling place. Cyborg shot the device generating the forcefield, which released his friends.

"Gale, come on," Robin said. They all came enough to each other. "Raven, get us out of here."

"Thought you'd never ask." She surrounded them all in black energy, which took the shape of a large raven and flew back to the tower.

* * *

After returning back to their home, Gale explained that he'd materialized a dome of air around himself and Angel before they'd been crushed. And given that Blood had shown so little concern for her, it'd been easy to convince her to get herself out, so he could blast his way out without causing harm. Cyborg explained himself for his behavior in the fight and everything he'd discovered. "But if all those HIVE kids were brainwashed, why not you?" Raven asked.

"Because half my brain is electronic. He may have been able to fool the man, but he couldn't fool the machine."

"Which means next time we face him, we have our own secret weapon."

* * *

Back in his room, Cyborg in front of the mirror, looking at himself as Stone for the last time. "Goodbye Stone." He then pulled off the ring, and the hologram faded away.

"For your thoughts, I will pay six grubfars," Starfire said as she walked in.

"If that's your way of asking me if I'm okay, don't worry, I'm fine. I never got to finish high school... because of this," he indicated his cybernetic parts. "And when I was at the HIVE, for a while there I felt, normal."

"I did not know you before. So, to me, you are normal." Cyborg smiled upon hearing Starfire's words.

"Oh, Cyborg," Beast Boy called out in a sing song voice. He looked at his doorway and saw him accompanied by Raven, Robin and Gale. Each of them had devious smirks on their faces.

"You left the Titans," Robin reminded him.

"That means you have to be initiated, all over again." Raven said. She held out a rubber chicken in her hand. Robin held a pink wig, Gale, a tutu of the same color and Beast Boy was holding a pair of spandex, also pink.

Cyborg's face blanched and he suddenly found out that he couldn't move. "What?" He noticed that Gale was looking at him with a particularly malicious smile.

"Don't count on getting me that easily, hey?" Despite Cyborg's protests, he was unable to break away as his friends dragged him away to be re-initiated.

"Aww man!"

* * *

Whew, finally done with this chapter. The last fight scene was officially my longest one yet. Anyway, hope you liked it and please review.


	10. Xcellent

Disclaimer:

Me: Do I really need to say it?

Gale: Yes, you do.

Me: Alright. I do not own the Teen Titans, DC Comics does. However, Gale is my creation and mine alone!

Gale: Then why am I not getting that much action?

Me: Shut up and don't complain! You'll get loads of it two chapters from now.

**

* * *

**

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Xcellent**

"Remind me again, what're we doing here?" Gale asked Cyborg. The cybernetic teen had brought his fellow titan to the tower's lower levels, where the t-ship was lying on an apparatus similar to what mechanic shops used to lift up cars in order to have access to the bottom.

"Because, the t-ship only has five places," he explained. "And with you on the team, we're six. So, we need to work on upgrading this baby so that it can take all of us if it needs to."

"Okay then. But why do you need me? You're the techno guy around here, and I'm not exactly a pro at this kind of stuff."

"I know, I know, but I could still use an extra pair of hands to help out. And it'd be best to have you with me just in case I need specifications for your part."

"Alright then, if you say so."

"Okay, let's get this thing started." Cyborg passed Gale a sheet of paper outlining the tail end's design. Gale went on top of the ship while Cyborg crawled underneath to work on the bottom. He worked meticulously at the different tasks that the robotic teenager gave him, which consisted of different steps for taking apart the t-ship's tail. For the most part, when Gale would have need for a tool, he would simply use his powers to forge one from the air, and disperse it when he was finished.

The two titans went on like this for a while until the tail end was detached from the rest of the vehicle. "Now that that's done-" Cyborg began, but was interrupted by the familiar sound of the alarm blaring through the tower. "Guess we'll have to work on it later."

* * *

After finding out the cause for the alarm, the Titans had rushed out of the tower towards a building where an unknown person had broken in. Beast Boy, in the form of a Pterodactyl carried Cyborg on his back, while Robin rode on his R-Cycle and the others flew by themselves. They arrived at their destination before long and entered in pursuit of the intruder. It wasn't exactly hard for them to follow, as they could see a trail of deactivated security measures. Moving fast, they just caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure when they came into an elevator shaft.

Black energy surrounded the cables as Raven used her telekinetic powers to bring up the elevator, on top of which they rode until reaching the level they'd seen the figure disappear to. They hopped off and continued the chase, coming to a doorway with a multitude of red laser that would have formed a grid, if not for the mirrors keeping them apart to allow a person to walk through. Robin, Starfire, Raven and Gale passed through with little problem, but Cyborg's size caused him to knock aside a couple of the mirrors when he crept through. An alarm sounded out and the lasers went back to their original pattern, forcing Beast Boy to change into a mouse to crawl through. The alarm was cut short when someone smashed a panel up ahead in passing.

The titans ran until reaching a large warehouse like room where the intruder had gone into. The figured turned back to face them, and they were surprised to see a sight familiar to them, except for Gale. It was a man dressed in a full black body suit, with a white skull shaped design on the mask. He had a cape on his back, with the inside being a metallic gray, as well as his utility belt and gloves. Apart from that, there was a red 'X' on his chest and in the middle of the skull's forehead.

"Red X?" Beast Boy said in surprise. "I thought Robin was Red X."

"Think again," the suited man said in a computerized voice, then raised his hands and fired a pair of X's at them from the palms of his hands.

"Titans, go!" Raven stayed in place and put up a dome of black energy around herself while the others moves out of the way to avoid the projectiles which landed on the floor where they'd been and exploded. The sorceress dispersed the dome, but then saw Red X coming at her with a flying kick and conjured a black shield in front of herself. This was countered when he simply vanished and reappeared behind Raven, sweeping her feet out from under her.

A red shuriken then came into his hand, but was promptly wiped out by a starbolt. Starfire flew at him, flinging pellets of green energy. He simply jumped back, twisting his body so that none of the starbolts struck him, then bounced back on the wall, landed on Starfire's back and kicked off. The agile thief leapt from one metal beam to another as the alien girl continued to pursue him. At one point, he turned jumped, turned around and fired a blast of red energy from each hand. They hit the metal pillars and crossed each other, catching Starfire as she passed through, dropping her to the floor.

Beast Boy was the next one to come after him. Flying as a pterodactyl, he changed to a Sasquatch and went to swing his arms at the black suited man, who stuck a solid X in his mouth. He stood on the beams for a moment, trying to bite through the offending object and pull it out. The shape shifter then became a hippopotamus and opened his mouth wide enough so that it fell out. But the change caused him to lose his balance and crash onto a pile of crates below

Just as Red X dropped to the ground, he found himself unable to move as Gale was running towards him. But when the winged boy went to punch him, he simply disappeared. Gale's senses alerting him, he sent out a pulse of air in all directions. It struck the black suited man who was blasted towards a metal beam, but he simply grabbed onto it, swung around and landed in front of Gale. He lashed out with a powerhouse kick that sent him back, although he managed to thicken the air behind to slow himself. Cyborg came charging in at the villain, who raised his right hand and shot out an 'X' from the palm. It bounced off the robotic teenager and expanded, its four 'arms' latching onto a different crate on either side. They like an elastic, it pulled back, causing the crates to converge and smash into Cyborg.

Beast Boy then became his usual self and got to his feet. Starfire flew next to him, a starbolt covering each hand. Raven rose from the ground, black telekinetic energy covering her hands and a crate she picked up with her powers. Gale stood up straight, his powers not showing, but still at the ready. Cyborg got back up, flicked a board off his shoulder then changed the arm into his sonic cannon. "Come on kids, X marks the spot," he taunted, pointing to the ''X on his chest.

He jumped up to avoid a blast from Cyborg's cannon and a blunt wave of air that zoomed towards him. The villain then sprung off the crate Raven sent his way, twisted himself to dodge a pair of starbolts and landed in front of Beast Boy, who'd changed into a yeti. The changeling raised his fists and brought them down on the floor, X having disappeared again. He looked at his friends around him and shrugged his shoulders.

Red X reappeared on a stack of wooden boxes, only to be tackled by Robin. Both of them rolled away on the floor and quickly got to their feet, the latter pulling out a birdarang and throwing it at his opponent, who vanished before being hit. The projectile flew around and came back into the Boy Wonder's hand, but he suddenly moved to the side, allowing for Red X's fist to miss his head. The black suited man swung at him again, but he ducked, flipped upside down, grabbed the arm with his feet and catapulted X away.

Red X landed nimbly on his feet as Robin came at him again. He dodged he titan leader's first punch and caught the second, pulling him down and jumping up at the same time. He then fell down upon Robin, his leg extended to land on him, but the offending limb was caught and he was tossed into a bunch of crates stacked against the wall. Robin then sprung to his feet and pinned X with his hand against his face. "Who are you?" he demanded.

"If I wanted you to know that, would I be wearing a mask?" the reply was punctuated by him grabbing Robin's wrist and sending out an electric shock into the Boy Wonder. He followed this up with a hard punch that threw him back through a pile of wooden boxes. Cyborg primed his cannon arm and ran towards their enemy at the same time as Raven. When they got close enough and were about to throw their powers at him, he sent a small 'X' which flew in between them and sent out tendrils of red electricity at the two, causing their powers to strike one another.

"Looks like you got your wires crossed," he commented. Starfire flew at him again, throwing a multitude of starbolts. He simply did a back flip and dived forward, without getting hit. Starfire turned around when she passed him, only to get caught by a large 'X' which carried her to a wall and stuck her there. "You know, cutie," Red X said, walking close to her and holding up her chin. "The only crime here is that you and I haven't gone out on a-" but he was interrupted when Starfire fired her eyebeams and struck him full center. He flew far back, slammed into a pile of crates and dropped to the floor. He got up in time to see Gale running towards him, along with Beast Boy who changed into a polar bear. The villain struck the floor in front of him with the palm of his hand, creating a fissure which the two titans fell through. "Watch your step."

"Watch this." Following those words, Gale rocketed out the rift and flew straight at X, spearing the rogue before he had time to react. After, the winged boy flew back to avoid an electric projectile at point blank range, but was then faced with another. He thrust his hand forward, at which a gust of wind emerged, blowing the projectile back towards its owner. Red X hopped onto a box, jumped off and landed on a metal beam. He extended the palms of both hands as he sailed over Gale's head, shooting out a flurry of red shots which converged into a semi-sphere that blocked him from sight.

X dropped to the ground and walked over to Robin's prone form. He rolled him over with his foot and picked up a white gun shaped object, except with a little screen at the back. Robin got to his feet and chased after him as he ran. "I won't let you get away with-" he began, but his feet were bundled together by an elastic 'X' which caused him to trip and fall over.

"Better luck next time, kid," Red X said as he attached the object he held to his belt. "And thanks for the suit." He pressed the middle of it, but did not teleport away like he intended to. "Come on, come on!", yet still nothing happened. "Great!" he said, in relation to the suit's malfunction, the fact that the point of a transparent sword had emerged from Gale's prison and was slicing it apart, and also that Robin had gotten his feet free and was coming for him again. He ran away through the rooftop entrance. Seeing the Boy Wonder behind him, he smacked the button on his belt with his fist, then jumped up as Robin dived at him. "Catch you later." He gave a small salute and was gone.

Robin stared at the place he'd been as his friends joined him on the roof. Starfire stood next to him, her eyes peering at him as if she were unsure about how real he was. She poked his shoulder repeatedly, getting his attention. "Hey, Star, ow!" He grabbed her hand to stop the poking. "That hurts."

"Then… you are not a hologram?"

"No," he said, letting go of her hand.

She continued poking him over and over again. "The last time we faced the Red X, he was you in disguise. And you were not really there."

"Starfire! Cut it out!"

"He is not a hologram," she declared, leaving the Boy Wonder untouched any further.

"He could still be a robot," Beast Boy suggested. "Check im for batteries."

Cyborg cracked his knuckles and took a step towards the team leader. "Wait! Please! It wasn't me, I promise! It wasn't me."

"This is the real Robin, not a robot," Gale confirmed.

"How're you so sure?" the green teenager asked.

"Because, he's breathing. I can hear it and I can feel it."

Beast Boy had a confused expression on his face at this. "Feel it?"

"I have power over air, remember? I sense and manipulate it. By the way, what's the deal with Red X and the way you guys look like you know him?"

"We don't know the person," Robin said. "We know the suit." Gale raised a questioning eyebrow at this. "Let's get back to the tower. I'll explain to you when we get there."

* * *

They got back to Titans Tower the same way they'd left. While Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire and Raven went to the common room to look over at some shots of their latest fight, Gale followed Robin as he went to a different area of their home. "Red X was a mistake," he began. "A mistake I won't ever make again."

"Uh huh. So…"

"You remember Slade?" Gale nodded in confirmation. "We met him before you came along to Jump City. It started when he sent Gizmo, Mammoth and Jinx after us. But that was only the first step. He launched multiple attacks at us and the city overtime. At one point, I created the suit and an alter ego. Red X, a ruthless thief who could get close to Slade, close enough to take him down. But I didn't tell the others and my plan didn't work. I almost lost my life… and my friends. It was the closest I've ever come to crossing the line between the good guys… and the others." Gale remained respectfully silent at this. They entered into a room with a vault that had the skull mark of Red X on the door, except that it had been taken off its hinges and lay on the floor. A plaque that would have had the suit hanging on it was wiped clean. "I thought the whole thing was in the past. But now… someone else crossed the line."

"Robin… if it's of any consolation to you… we all do mistakes, things we regret later on. You don't need to beat yourself up over this."

"Thanks, but it's still my job to stop him."

* * *

The two of them left the room behind and went back to join the others. "Let's face it," Raven spoke up as they walked in. "Red X could be anyone. Anyone smart enough to steal the suit and dumb enough to take it for a joy ride."

"And when Robin returns, he will help us to discover who," Starfire said.

Robin walked past them to a console on the wall. "It doesn't matter. I created Red X, every system, every weapon. Whoever's inside that suit, he's my responsibility."

"Well if we're gonna catch him, we at least need to figure out what he's after," Cyborg pointed out.

"I already know." He typed a few keys on the console and the screen changed from showing images of Red X to a molecular structure of a certain substance. "Xenothium, the fuel that powers the suit." Starfire and Raven gasped in surprise, while Gale simply had a blank look on his face.

"Aww man!" Beast Boy moaned. "I never understand anything."

"XENOTHIUM!" Cyborg exploded. "YOU POWERED THAT SUIT WITH XENOTHIUM! Are you crazy man, that stuff is dangerous, and unstable! Tell me you were not stupid enough to go messing with it!"

Robin sighed. "It was a mistake. The scanner Red X stone will locate any Xenothium within a ten mile radius."

"So we must locate it first," Starfire said.

"X isn't the only one with a scanner." Cyborg pulled open a compartment on his chest and took out a cable which he plugged into an outlet next to one of the consoles. "I'm downloading the molecular signature and transferring to your communicators."

"Thanks," Robin said as he walked back towards the door. "But I won't need it."

"How're you gonna find the Xenothium without a scanner?"

"The same way I found it the first time."

* * *

A good distance from Titans Tower, there was tall hill with an observatory like building built on top. It had a large cylindrical object sticking out like a telescope, except that it was covered so one wouldn't be able to guess exactly what it was. Robin climbed up the building, until reaching the presumable telescope's extension and hopped onto it. The building he entered had an abandoned look to it. Walkways built into the walls that went all around were devoid of people. Barrels, crates, mechanicals parts and other such things were stacked or lying around. A bunch of large, empty glass tubes were standing against the wall opposite where Robin came down.

After jumping off the large covered structure, he soon after jumped back when a blast of what appeared to be red electricity struck the floor in front of him. He took note of a figure dressed in a white laboratory suit who held a long pole from which he fired at him. Robin ran towards this person, jumping from a barrel, to a stack of crates and tackled them, causing their weapon to skid away. He gripped the man by the front of his suit and held him pinned against the wall. Upon closer inspection, one could see that he seemed to be Chinese, though he wore a strange white hat that only left his face open, a pair of techno lenses and a black and gray apparatus that hung on his shoulders. "Professor Chang. Remember me?"

"The good little boy who likes dangerous toys," he spoke in a light voice. "How could I forget?"

"Xenothium, where do you get it?"

"Nowhere. Suppliers skipped town months ago. That stuff… there's no way to get any. Unless…"

"Talk!"

"There is a tech company on the south end. Rumor has it that they keep a generous supply of Xenothium Ore in their vault. But it's not for sale, and it's locked up tight. You'd have to steal it."

"Not interested." He tossed Chang to the floor and went to got out the same way he'd come in. "But I know someone who is."

* * *

At the moment, Cyborg was walking along the docks by himself. He had a light extended from his shoulder for illumination as he searched around. Being done, he stopped for a moment and called up his friends. "West side's clean," he spoke into his arm. "You guys find anything?"

"Thus far my search has been unsuccessful," Starfire answered.

"Same here," Gale added.

"What he said," Beast Boy spoke up.

"Ditto," Raven said.

"Titans," Robin's voice came up. "I know where Red X is going to strike next. Sending coordinates."

Cyborg looked at the indicated location. "On my way." Unfortunately for him, he was suddenly stunned by an electric shock and knocked out cold.

* * *

Being the first to know about X's intended target, Robin was the first to arrive. He stood on the rooftop of a tall, circular building while he waited for his teammates to arrive. Beast Boy was the next one to get there. He changed from an eagle to his usual form. "So, you're pretty much kicking yourself for not getting rid of that Red X suit when you had the chance, huh?" Robin simply kept his back to him. "Uhh, forget I said anything."

"I couldn't destroy it," he answered. "The Xenothium power core is too dangerous to dispose of. It was supposed to stay locked away."

Raven then rose from the floor of the roof at the same time as Starfire landed. "No sign of Red X," she reported.

"Nor of Cyborg," the alien girl noted.

"Where's Gale?" Beast Boy asked.

"He's the furthest away, but he'll be here soon," Raven said.

"Cyborg report," Robin spoke into his communicator. "Cyborg… X must have attacked him. If Cyborg's hurt, it's my fault."

"Robin…"

"I'm responsible, Starfire. For everything that's happened."

"No Robin. The error you made, it is in the past. You are no longer the one inside that suit."

"And personally…" Red X's voice was heard. The present titans turned their attention towards it and saw the man in question standing in the middle of the rooftop, which was higher up than they were standing. "I think it looks much cooler on me." He then hurled a handful of red shurikens, which impaled the floor when they jumped back.

Raven flew towards him, aside Beast Boy who became a charging Rhinoceros. X materialized a different 'X' in his hand and hurled it at them like a ninja star. It caught Beast Boy, pushed him into Raven, wrapped itself around both of them and tossed them back. Starfire caught the incoming duo and was pushed back by their momentum. A whirlwind suddenly arose, pushing against Beast Boy and Raven. Added to the Tamaranian's super strength, it stopped the pair from going off the building and she was able to set them down.

Robin charged at Red X, who stood immobile, like a matador waiting for the bull. He simply side stepped him, and turned around as he came again. For the second run, he did close to the same move, except that he also pushed Robin down. When the boy Wonder got to his feet, he was greeted by his opponent pulling back on his mask and letting it snap back. While the Titan's leader was busy clutching his eyes, he took the opportunity to dive off the building towards one of the lower levels.

Robin adjusted his mask and turned towards his teammates. Raven was standing up straight, though still attached to her partner's back, who was upside down, as a rhino. "And now, I smell like rhino butt," she said, blowing his tail out of her face. Starfire tried to pull on their bonds, but they snapped into place and Beast Boy reverted to himself.

"Dude, you think you gave this guy enough gadgets?" he asked Robin sarcastically.

"Hang on," Gale said as he landed next to them. He materialized a transparent knife in his hand and used it to cut them free.

"Come on, we need to keep going after X," Robin reminded them. They flew down to the same level as Red X had gone, passing through a hole in a roof and landing on the floor of a large, empty, circular room. "Split up. And be careful. I don't want anyone else getting hurt."

* * *

They each separated and went their own way. Robin walked cautiously down a deserted hallway for a while, seeing nothing, yet still remaining alert. At one point, he passed a console against the wall and came to a door locked with a security system in place. As he walked up to it, he suddenly heard Starfire screaming. "Starfire?" He started to run back down the hall, but stopped when he heard Red X's computer voice speaking up from behind him.

"What's the matter, kid? Don't you wanna play? After all, they're you're toys." He held up a hand, which contained a bunch of shurikens, then hurled them all towards him. Robin fell flat do the floor and they passed over him, sinking into the console and causing it to explode. The lock on turned a little and the door opened up, revealing a hallway filled with a mesh of red lasers.

X leapt through the web, followed quickly by Robin. Both of them jumped on the floor, off the walls and passed through without creating a disturbance. At the end, they came to a long chute and let themselves free fall. When he got close enough, the rogue fired an 'X' at the forcefield below, opening up a rift which let him go through. Unfortunately for Robin, it closed up afterwards and he fell onto it rather hard, even though the surface wasn't that solid or the fall too great.

When Robin finally made his way through, he continued down the hallway ahead. A door opened up at the end, leading to a room that most of the floor was black, outlined with a green grid. "After you," Red X said, then pushed him inside.

The tiles that composed the grid lit up in red, forming an 'X' with Robin in the center. He looked up and saw a cannon aligned on the ceiling preparing to fire. He jumped out of the way and a blast of red energy struck the floor where he'd previously been. Another 'X' formed on the spot where he landed, and the cannon adjusted itself to fire. Robin ran towards the opposite door, moving from side to side, but the cannon hounded him persistently. Red X dropped from the ceiling and landed in front of the open doorway. "Thanks for the hand, kid," he taunted, then stepped back and closed it.

Robin was forced to keep moving quickly to avoid getting struck. But as soon as he was able, he pulled out his grapple hook and pulled himself up to the ceiling. He then grabbed onto the cannon and used a birdarang to cut through the wires holding it up. This permitted him to pull it down and redirect its fire towards the closed door. With it, he cut all around the door, which then fell forward, revealing a tall, circular room with a bunch of pods in the walls. Red X was kneeling down, putting a tube of Xenothium into a cylindrical container which held five others. He took notice of Robin letting go of the detached cannon which died down. The Boy Wonder then lashed out with a flying kick that sent him slamming into the wall.

"Kid, you are taking life way too seriously." The rogue got up and ran to meet his opponent. He ducked underneath Robin's kick, who then turned around and hurled a fistful of explosive globes, which of quickly avoided by diving to the side. Retaliation came in the form of a half dozen shurikens that ended up stuck in the wall or deflected by the staff Robin pulled out. An 'X' extended from the back of both his hands and he charged the Titans' leader.

'X' shaped blades clashed against Robin's combat staff, then parted when the villain jumped to avoid getting his feet swept out from underneath him. They connected again and both fighters pushed against one another, until Robin gave a shove which sent his opponent sliding back. X took a couple swings when the titan came at him, but they were avoided and he was struck by the staff. Rapidly getting to his feet, he had the blades on his hands spin around on themselves.

Robin ducked low and rolled away, the red blades grating against the wall. He parried a few moves then bent back to avoid another and lashed out with a kick that hit X. But the persistent villain simply came back, his blades meeting Robin's staff once again. "Why did you steal the suit?" he demanded as they held each other at a standstill. "And what're you planning to do?"

"Whatever I want." Red X left himself drop and used the momentum to propel Robin back over him, but he was also able to get up in little time. "Not everybody likes to play the big villain, kid. I'm a thief. I'm not threatening your precious city. Just looking out for number one." He retracted his weapons as he spoke.

"So you're psychotic, you're just selfish."

"Lighten up, chuckles. I'm not such a bad guy… once you get to know me." He sent out an 'X' from the palm of each hand. One high, which Robin blocked with his staff, and one low, which tripped him over. He came down at the Boy Wonder with his foot extended, but his target rolled away and kicked him into the wall. He got up again and seeing as he was close to the container he'd previously been holding, he picked it up. "Play time's over kid." Robin drew a birdarang in response. "Back off, or I trip the power core. And the core triggers the rocks. I don't think you want that on your conscience."

"And I don't think you want to be disintegrated." Robin then took notice of a gang of hazmat men coming up behind X. One of them raised a rod and fired a blast of red electricity that struck the villain full in the chest, which another did the same to Robin. Both fighters dropped to the floor instantly. The men proceeded to pull out the pods from the walls and remove the Xenothium containers. One of them placed a transmitter with a TV screen in front of Robin's face. "The Xenothium!"

"Yes," Chang spoke up, the screen showing him still in the lab Robin had gone to see him. "And I do so appreciate it."

"Chang," Robin said angrily.

"Since you two were doing the break in, I decided to cash in. I'm sick of selling to bad boys, I'm ready to be one. And now that I finally have enough Xenothium to power my disintegrator cannon, I can be very, very bad." He then saw the concealed object be unveiled, revealing itself to be what Chang spoke of.

"I won't let you get away with this."

"Oh, I think you will. Because, my good little boy, I didn't just steal the ore, I stole your friends." The camera turned towards the glass tubes against the wall. Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy in the form of a dog, and Starfire were each frozen in a different one.

"Sir," a deep voice spoke up, presumably one of the other hazmat men. "We've got a small problem."

"What is it?" Chang asked, annoyed. "And where is the one with wings? Shouldn't he be with the rest of them?" he pointed to the four frozen titans.

"That's the problem, sir. We've lost all contact with team five."

"Gale," Robin muttered to himself.

"Grr…" Chang pulled the camera to focus on his face. "Stay out of this," he warned Robin. "Or I'll test my cannon on your friends." The screen then went blank.

* * *

Not too long afterwards, Red X managed to get to his feet, rubbing the side of his head. "Okay, who were the moon men?" Bars rose from the floor, trapping the thief.

"Men working for a criminal named Professor Chang," Robin answered.

"Come on, kid," X said, turning towards Robin, holding onto the bars. "You don't really think this little play pen can hold me?"

In response, Robin pressed a button on the console near the imprisoned rogue, forcing him to let go of the bars when he suddenly found them to be electrified. "You don't even care, do you? Chang just got his hands on enough Xenothium to power disintegrator cannon and rip apart the entire city. And it's your fault!"

"Don't you mean our fault?"

"At least I'm going to do something about it. And if you cared about anything other than yourself, you'd be helping too."

"Sorry kid, but some guys don't like to play the hero."

"I'll be back to take you to jail." Robin turned his back on him and walked away.

* * *

Back at Professor Chang's base, the ceiling was opening up to allow for the cannon to poke its nose out. Inside the observatory like building, a bunch of hazmat men were working at different task, welding, carrying materials around, or doing tasks on the cannon. "Buildings, neighborhoods, lives… countless targets just waiting to be disintegrated." The professor gave a small maniacal laugh at the idea of the destruction he would do. "Tell me, pretty girl," he said as he walked over to the tube containing Starfire. "Have you ever seen something ripped apart, molecule by molecule? It's breathtaking."

The alien girl managed to free her head with her eyebeams. "You are a bad man!" She then fired them at the glass around her, but to no effect.

"If you think I'm bad now, then you're going to be really impressed once I finish with your city… and move on to you."

"You plans shall fail! Robin will-"

"Not be joining us. Not with your lives on the line. Far too risky for good boy like him."

"You would be surprised at the risks Robin is willing to take."

The hazmat men working on the cannon finished inserting the last canister of Xenothium at the butt end and signaled for it to be closed. Chang then made his way to the ladder and climbed up to the control seat attached to the middle of the cannon's side. He pulled on one of the levers and the whole thing started to go up, the barrel pointed at the multitude of building that formed Jump City. "I've spent years hiding from this cursed city… now let them hide from me! Prepare to fire!" he ordered.

But at that moment, Robin came swinging on his grapple hook. His feet slammed into the maniacal professor and caused him to jerk back on one of the levers. This in turn, caused the cannon's barrel to lift up as it fired a large blast of red energy, which ended up striking the middle of Titan Tower's top, making it look like someone had taken a bite out of it. Robin landed on the walkway opposite where he'd come in and retracted his grapple. "You just made a big mistake," he warned Chang.

The cannon's rear pulled out, rotated the canisters and closed up again. "Attack," the evil professor ordered his men.

Two hazmat men fired a blast of red goo and electricity at Robin. He leapt off the walkway and landed on the one below, falling on the man with the electric pole. Then he kicked off and landed on the other, slamming him into the floor. Grabbing his weapon, he fired off a stream of red good which solidified into a slide from the walkway's railing to the bottom level. Robin went down this, like a surfer without a board, and then jumped off when he got to the floor, hitting one of the men with a flying kick. He spun around and drove a powerhouse kick into another's stomach, knocking him flat out, then floored a third with a punch.

A man holding an electric pole came running towards him, but he simply side stepped the weapon, grabbed onto it and kicked him away. Jabbing back with the weapon, he shocked another hazmat guy, grabbed his pole and did the same to the one coming up behind. Three more ran past the prisoners towards the fighting Titan. Robin hurled both poles at one of them, the shock dropping him to the floor, then charged the two others. Number one was taken down when the Boy Wonder lashed out with an uppercut, and number two was engulfed by a load of goo when the cable connecting his pole and tank was yanked out.

"Quickly, quickly, hop!" Chang said as he adjusted the cannon to aim at Robin. Staring at the weapon primed at him, Robin shot out his grapple hook towards the ceiling and was pulled himself up. Chang followed him with the cannon's barrel and fired a blast which lanced through the sky. Though it had created a sizeable hole in the domed ceiling, Robin had been untouched. He swung himself onto the walkway and ran, as Chang fired after him again. He jumped over one blast, rolled under a second, but a third cut the walkway in front, forcing him to grab onto the railing. "Okay, good boy," the evil man said as Robin dangled in the air from the bent railing. "Who should I destroy first? You, or your pretty friend?"

"Starfire," Robin called out when he saw Chang lift the cannon and lower the barrel to aim at the alien girl who remained unable to break free. And yet, before he had a chance to fire, a red shuriken suddenly cut off the lever he'd been reaching for, following by a bunch of others which impaled the control panel in front of him. Robin lost his grip and began to fall, but Red X swung across, caught him and dropped him on the opposite walkway. "I thought you didn't like to play the hero."

"Doesn't mean I don't know how." X jumped over the railing and ran alongside Robin towards a troop of Hazmat men armed with electric poles. They plowed through the group with martial arts skills that made them look like complete idiots possessing no knowledge of how to fight. Another pair fired a couple shots from the lower levels on the opposite end, but were knocked out when Gale dived in through one of the holes made by the cannon, zoomed past the two and bowled over the men like pins.

He turned around to face Robin and Red X. "I miss anything?"

"No, no, no!" Chang cried out, slamming his fists onto the control panel.

Gale immediately flew down in front of his friends just as Chang's disintegrator weapon went off. He poured all his willpower into creating a shield of air to protect the titans behind him. Though he showed signs of strain when the blast struck, Gale was able to keep the barrier locked firmly in place. The cannon gone out of control, it moved on and started to cut a swath through the building. Robin and Red X ran away from the beam, as it went around, until the observatory had been cut in half and the free part slid down the hill.

Chang looked in despair at his failure, but was knocked out when Robin landed in front of him and threw the Asiatic professor out of his seat and down to the floor. "Time to get what I came for," Red X said as he landed next to Chang.

Robin, Gale and the other titans who'd freed already, stood opposite him at the ready. "Time's up," Raven announced.

"Thanks for the help, X," Robin said. "But don't think that means you can help yourself."

"No problem kid." He held up a small tube of Xenothium in his hand. "This should keep me going for quite a while."

"That won't do you much good… without this." In response, Robin held up the suit's utility belt. X looked down at his waist were it usually was, and saw that in fact it was missing. "Better luck next time."

He took a step back, and stumbled a little when his foot kicked a few pebbles down the hill. "Not bad, kid. Not bad." The rogue then threw the tube of Xenothium to the ground, at which it exploded into a cloud of red and he let himself be blown away.

* * *

Following the fight at Chang's laboratory, the maniacal professor and his men, including the ones who'd attempted to snatch Gale at the tech company, had all been taken away to prison. The remaining Xenothium had been put away in its place and Red X's utility belt rested in a safe within Titan's Tower, on which repairs had begun to patch up the hole made by Chang's disintegrator cannon. As for the thief himself, no trace had been seen of him since.

Robin was standing on the rooftop of Titan's Tower, simply looking out at the city. "Hey, Robin," Gale spoke up as he landed next to him.

"Hey Gale," the Titan's leader said back. Silence reigned amongst the two of them for a while longer. "You know… before, I used to think that the line between good and evil was supposed to be clear, but really… it can be almost impossible to find."

"Ain't it the truth?"

"Yeah… By the way, what happened after we all split up?"

"You want the official version, or the off the record one?"

"How about the official to start with?"

"I searched for X through the building, was attacked by a bunch of hazmat men and knocked them out, although my communicator got hit. Then I continued looking around, but then I saw X run by and chased after him until it got to Chang's lab."

"I see… The unofficial version?"

"Same. Except that I found Red X trapped in that vault, he told me what happened, I let him out, we flew to Chang's lab, he went in and I followed. You already know the rest."

"I guess that in the end, the answers don't come easy."

* * *

There you have it folks! If you liked it, and even if you didn't, please review!


	11. Sibling Problem

Disclaimer: Here it is! Hope you like it!

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Sibling Problem**

It was another beautiful day in Jump City. The whole mess with Professor Chang and Red X had already been put out of the Titans minds and they were simply enjoying themselves for a while. Robin and Cyborg were playing on the gamestation while Raven and Gale red their own books, when Beast Boy came into the main room. "Hey guys," he addressed them all. "I think Starfire's leaving." The four of them stopped their activities and looked at their green teammate.

"What?" Robin asked.

"Come on, see for yourselves."

They got up and followed the changeling, until they got the hallway, close to Starfire's room. The alien girl in question was placing her belongings in a pile outside her door. "Uhh… Starfire?" Cyborg spoke up.

"Hmm?"

"Going somewhere?" Beast Boy jumped in.

"I am leaving for Tamaran," she explained.

"And you're taking all your stuff because…?" Raven asked.

The Tamaranian set down a pile of her cheerleader like uniforms and turned towards her friends. "I am not ever coming back."

The five other Titans were obviously surprised at hearing this. "WHAT!"

"Starfire, what's wrong?" Robin asked.

"Nothing is wrong. I am, getting married."

"WHAT!" Robin's mouth and eyes popped open in shock.

* * *

"You're getting married?" Robin asked for the umpteenth time. All six Titans were currently aboard the T-Ship and heading towards Starfire's native planet, Tamaran. The tail end had been expanded and worked on to add another unit in order to accommodate their newest member. Beast Boy was in the middle pod, Raven and Starfire in the right and left wings, respectively, Cyborg at the head, and Robin and Gale were each at one of the tail's halves.

"Indeed," the alien girl replied. "And I cannot wait to see Tamaran. I have been having a bit of the home sick feeling lately and am eager to introduce my home planet to you, my friends. First you must ingest the fresh squeezed glorg, or perhaps sputwinks. And wait until you see the portkins they are as big as a floornop."

"Umm, am I the only one afraid of the big portkins?" Beast Boy inquired.

"You're getting married?"

"Yeah… uhh, anyone we know?" Raven asked.

"Oh, I have never met him. My betrothed has been chosen for me by the grand ruler of Tamaran."

Robin then made it seem as if he was going to jump out of his pod to get in front of Starfire's, but before the hatch opened up, the air converged into a layer which prevented him, or the oxygen from going out. "Robin," Gale spoke up. "I would like to remind you that we are in space. And last I checked, in space, there's a notable lack of air. So, unless you come up with any other… less than bright ideas, how about you just close the hatch again?"

The team leader followed his friend's suggestion and closed the hatch. Seeing this done, Gale allowed the layer of air to return to its normal state. "You're getting married!" he still spoke loudly into his headpiece. "And to someone you've never met!"

"Of course, Robin. It is the way of my people."

"But, Starfire…" the Boy Wonder was interrupted when a bunch of grasshopper like ships came in, firing at them.

"I don't suppose this is some kind of crazy Tamaranian welcoming committee," Cyborg wondered as they attempted to fly away from their attackers.

"No, it is not," Starfire answered.

"Whoever they are, they've got us outnumbered eleven to one," Raven pointed out.

"Not for long," Robin said. "Titans, separate!" The T-Ship then split apart into six smaller pieces. Each of them changed and shifted so that the Titans were all in control of their own ships. The team leader found himself pursued by two enemies as they separated. He dodged their fire for a bit, then pulled back on a lever, activating reverse thrusters that permitted for him to get behind them. Being in this position, he pushed down on the control's button shooting at one of the insect ships that ended up being struck and blown up.

"You think you've got me," Cyborg said as he found himself pursued by two more enemies. "Think again." He rolled out of the way as an asteroid fragment flew towards him and smashed into one of his foes. Both Beast Boy and Gale had a single fighter on their tails. As the two titans were advancing towards each other, Gale dove down and before his opponent had a chance to follow, Beast Boy blew him away. The winged boy then returned the favor by pulling up and blasting the one hounding his teammate.

Starfire, for her part, was unlucky enough to have three chasing after her. "I begin to suspect that separation was not such a wise idea," she said after her section was struck a few times.

Robin's then received a hit in the rear. "Starfire's right. Titans, regroup." They all flew close to each other, and then pressed a different button, which resulted in six miniature bombs dropping from their units and blowing apart all their remaining enemies. They then reattached their parts into the one T-Ship. "Who were they?"

That question pondering, they started going closer to the planet's surface. They came across a desert like wasteland, with reddish skies and scraggly rocky peaks sticking out through the ground. "Is it not the most beautiful sight your eyes have ever observed?" Starfire asked.

"Uhh, sure," Raven answered.

The T-Ship continued towards a particularly tall and large pointy rock, into which were built futuristic looking building. At the very top lay a grand palace, complete with towers that reached high up. They flew towards the palace, landed on a platform at the edge and got out of their ship. A large doorway opened up, through which came two pairs of guards dressed in dark uniforms with helmets and halberds. But the most notable individual, was a giant of a man who had massive arms, big red hair and a beard and wore dark clothes similar to Starfire's, except adapted to his sheer size.

"Nuba kalstick Koriander X'hal!" he said to Starfire.

"Hezbal ruthagafoca!" The alien girl screamed as the gigantic Tamaranian went to grab at her.

"Titans g-" Robin started, but stopped in his tracks when he saw that his friend was laughing out loud as the man was tickling her.

"Umm, unless they tickle people to death here, I think you can chill," Cyborg pointed out.

"Friends," Starfire spoke up when the tickling stopped. "I wish you to meet my kanorfka, Galfor. He raised me from the time I was very small."

Beast Boy chuckled to himself upon hearing this. "You mean this dude's your nanny?" The other Titans stepped away from as Galfor leaned over him.

"You find that amusing, little one?" The sight of the towering man did quick work in shutting him up.

"Nice to meet you," Robin said.

"X'hal," he responded with a fist over his chest. "I see you have met out new enemy."

"Then you know who attacked us?"

He indicated a fleet of insect ships identical to the ones that had attacked them, merely stationed on the ground below. "The great Drenthrax army. They threaten to overthrow our planet, our way of life. And if I were Grand Ruler I would… well… I'm not. Let us just say that much has changed since you departed," he said to Starfire.

"I have missed you Galfor."

Him and the guards kneeled down before her. "And I have missed you, Princess Starfire."

Her fellow Titans' eyes bugged out in surprise. "PRINCESS!"

"Oh, yes. I am second in line for the throne. Perhaps I forgot to mention this?" She gave a small nervous laugh, and then started to walk back with Galfor and the guards.

"Ooookaaay," Gale spoke up. "I did not see that one coming."

"Did you know about this?" Cyborg asked Robin.

"Just go."

The five Titans followed Starfire, Galfor and the guards as they walked through the doorway. They came into a wide hallway with a carpet stretched out until the other end and two massive columns on either wall. Chained to each of the columns, was a dog like animal, except much bigger and with noticeably large teeth. "Alien animals, cool!" Beast Boy commented.

The one he was standing in front of reached out for him, as much as his chain permitted, opened up its mouth and growled loudly at him. He ran back to his friends in fright and panic. "You're the alien here," Raven reminded him.

"Look, Starfire," Robin spoke up. "About this wedding…" He placed his hand on Starfire's shoulder, at which Galfor pushed him towards the wall and the guards pointed their halberds at him.

"It is forbidden for outworlders to touch the princess."

"Umm, please do not harm my friend." The guards withdrew their weapons and continued on their way, along with Galfor and Starfire.

* * *

Later on, the Titans, along with Galfor and a dozen or so other Tamaranian men and women sat down at a long semi-circular table situated in a large open room. All of them had rather large goblet in front of them containing some sort of red liquid. "To our beautiful princess and her new husband," Galfor said as he raised his own.

Starfire picked up hers with ease and added a few words. "And to my good friends." The five other Titans attempted to pick up their goblets, but were unable, due to their sheer weight. "I am jubilant you all could be here to celebrate my wedding." Most of the people clanged their goblets together at this.

"We're really gonna miss you," Robin said, a saddened expression on his face.

A few servants came to the table and set down a series of dished that were… not exactly the most appealing. From strange fish that looked like they were mutated, to a green foamy substance, a bowl of squid shaped things and so on. "Please, eat," Starfire urged her friends.

Galfor picked up a double sided axe from the floor and slammed it into the midst of the foods. All the Tamaranians, including Starfire, jumped from their seats and lunged at the food, grabbing at the pieces they wanted and shoving it into their mouths.

"I'm guessing you picked up your table manners on earth," Robin commented, surprised by Starfire's behavior.

"Hurry, or you will not get any!"

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Gale mumbled.

"Same here," Raven added.

"I'm not hungry," Beast Boy said.

* * *

After the food had been cleared out, the diners stood away from their seats as a bunch of other Tamaranians holding what looked like bagpipes came in. They breathed in and started blowing into the instruments so loudly that Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven cringed and covered their ears. Gale simply stood there impassively, given that he'd created a pair of earmuffs to shield himself. "Umm, it is music," Starfire noted when she saw her friends' reactions.

The tall double doors at the end of the room opened up, at which came out two pairs of guards, followed by another figure. The 'music' ended, and the Titans stopped covering their ears and took note of the fact that everyone else was kneeling down, at which they followed their example. "All hail the Grand Ruler of Tamaran," Galfor announced. "The empress, Blackfire."

"Blackfire?" Starfire looked up and saw that indeed it was who she thought. Standing before all of them, was a young girl, similar to the alien Titan. The differences being that she had long black hair, a headpiece around her face and a dull gray cloak around her back. She was clad in an outfit almost identical to Starfire's, except that hers was black and gray, and covered all of her person, except for her hands.

"Surprised to see me, little sister?" she asked in a mocking tone.

"I am surprised to see you out of prison," Starfire said, her eyes glowing green.

Blackfire's eyes glowed purple in the same way as her sister's. "Oh, that. Well after you had me thrown in hail, I got bored. So I broke out and took over Tamaran for kicks." Both their eyes returned to their original state. "But enough about me. I'm sure you're eager to see who you'll be spending the rest of your life with." A pod floated into the room from the same doorway which Blackfire had come through. On it was what could only be described as an oversized bulging blob, with a bunch of flabby balloon like limbs. "Starfire, meet your groom, Glurdlesqletch." Robin's face was almost burning in rage at this.

"Umm, he's cute," Raven said in an unconvincing tone.

"Gross," Gale muttered under his breath.

"My… groom? But he is… I cannot…"

"You can and you will. You see, sister dear, this darling creature is the exalted sqlurtch of the swamp moons of Drenthax four. And since his invasion army is parked outside our castle, I arranged your marriage to save our beloved Tamaran from annihilation. If your groom can't kiss his bride, we can all kiss Tamaran goodbye."

The green blob floated over to the Tamaranian princess. "… I am sure we will be… happy… together." It let out a belching noise from one of its 'limbs' in response.

"He says he can't wait to take you to his swamp planet. Far, far away. We celebrate my sister's wedding at moonset, tonight!" The other Tamaranians stood up and cheered at this.

"Tonight? Starfire, are you sure about this."

"…Yes."

"Take the princess to her quarters so she may prepare." Starfire was then led away by a pair of guards who marched alongside her. "You," she pointed to Gale. "You can come with me. I think we should have a little chat," she said in a softer tone. "And keep an eye on the rest of them."

* * *

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Beast Boy cried out as he was trapped by some strange plant like chair in their room. Cyborg soon came along and freed him from it. "I can't tell what's a bed, what's a chair and what's alive! How am I supposed to take my beauty nap?"

"How can you even think about sleep?" Robin asked. "We can't let Starfire go through with this."

"Come on, man," Cyborg spoke up. "You're sure you're not just… you know, jealous?"

"Of that ugly, smelly… whatever it is? You saw her face, she doesn't even like him."

"True," Raven agreed. "But maybe she doesn't have to. Things are different here. Who're we to question her culture?" The door to their room opened up and Gale walked in.

"Well, what happened?" the leader asked.

"Nothing. Blackfire just asked me a bunch of questions about where I came from, how long I've been with you guys and stuff like that."

"Really? She didn't want anything else?" Beast Boy said in an obviously suggestive tone.

Gale stared at his green teammate, raised his hand and materialized a transparent hammer in it. "Care to repeat that?"

"No," he replied quickly.

"Did you find anything out about what Blackfire's planning?"

"I'm afraid not, Robin."

"She set up the whole thing. There must be something going on. Beast Boy, Cyborg, check out the Drenthax fleet. Raven, see what you can learn about this… thing, she's marrying."

"And you?" Cyborg inquired.

"I need to see Starfire."

"Where does that leave me then?" Gale asked.

"You're taking me to her."

* * *

After sneaking out of their room, through the castle and past the occasional guard, Beast Boy and Cyborg headed towards the wastelands where the insect ships were stationed. When they got to a certain one, the robotic teenager pulled out a small burner from the tip of his finger and cut an entrance through the hull. They went in and a light came out from his shoulder. As they made their way towards the head, Beast Boy happened to trip on a wire and fell to the floor. "What're you trying to do? Wake up the whole-" He then noticed that apart from themselves, the ship was empty. "Where's the crew?"

"Out to lunch?"

They walked up to the control panel and turned the seat around, revealing a cylindrical gadget plugged into the commands. "Remote controlled," Cyborg stated. "They've got a whole fleet of ships…"

"But no army," Beast Boy finished.

They turned around at that moment and saw a pack of guards with their weapons pointed towards them. "And Blackfire doesn't want anyone to know about this."

* * *

Raven partly phased through the floor of the room housing Starfire's soon to be groom. She poked her head through, and seeing to one else, she went the rest of the way. She looked over a few objects on a cabinet, then had her attention caught by a shut case. "Now what's this?" She opened up the lid, and a bright red light came through.

"Yes, my plan was brilliant, wasn't it, Glurdlesqletch?" Blackfire's voice reached into the room. Raven closed the case and flew up, phasing through the ceiling, but still keeping her head through so that she could spy on them. The older sibling walked in, alongside the floating blob.

It hovered over to the case, picked it up and held it out to Blackfire. "I give you my pesky little sister, and you give me the jewel of Charta." She opened the lid and took out a large red jewel with a gold casing. Her hand and eyes glowed red as she held it. "With its powers enhancing my own, I can rule Tamaran with an iron fist. No one will dare challenge me."

The blob motioned towards Raven, and then spat a chunk of green goo at the young sorceress, who fell down to the floor as a result. "Eww."

"Well done, Glurdleslqetch. You've discovered a spy." The red energy around Blackfire's hand glowed even brighter as she looked down at Raven.

* * *

Robin was currently strapped into a seat made of air which was in turn attached to Gale's feet. "Is this really necessary?"

"No, I just figured you'd find it more comfortable," Gale replied as he flapped his wings to go higher towards the balcony of Starfire's room. They continued like this in silence, until reaching their intended destination.

"Starfire," Robin called out as he was released from his seat and dropped onto the balcony. "Starfire."

The alien girl turned around and saw her friends. "Robin, Gale… Thank X'hal you… uhh, that is… I trust you are both enjoying your stay."

"If it means flying around while carrying Robin, then yes."

Robin scoffed at his teammate's sarcasm. "Come on, Star. We're getting out of here."

"Robin, I am sorry, I cannot."

"Starfire, you don't want to marry him."

"Marrying him will bring peace to my planet," she responded. "It is good for everyone."

"It's not good for you."

"I second that," Gale added.

"If you cannot be happy for me, then perhaps you should not attend my wedding."

"Starfire…" She turned around, but saw that her friends were gone, unknowing that they'd been knocked out and taken away behind her back.

* * *

The two boys woke up in a round glasslike cell, accompanied by Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg. "So, you guys got caught too," the green teenager noted.

"Well duh," Gale replied.

"I couldn't talk her out of it," Robin said. "She has to marry him, for her people."

"No, she doesn't," Raven corrected.

"It's all a lie," Cyborg continued. "The army, the war, everything. Blackfire set her up."

"Then we have to tell Starfire the truth. Before it's too late."

* * *

Back in her rooms, Starfire was standing in front of a mirror, wearing a long white gown. Galfor walked up to her, and set a headpiece atop her, similar to the one Blackfire wore. "I have never seen a more beautiful bride. Something troubles you, my little bumgorf?"

"Nothing troubles me."

"Do not attempt to fool an old kanorfka. I raised you." He gently placed one of his large hands on her shoulder. "I have always expected great things from you, my princess. And tonight is no exception."

"Yes. I will do what is right for Tamaran," she said with her head lowered.

Galfor raised her chin a little to look in her face. "You must do what is right… in your heart."

The doors to her room opened up and Blackfire came in, flanked by a pair of guards. "Ready sister dear?" she asked in a mocking tone. Starfire flew up to give Galfor a hug, then followed after her sibling.

* * *

The guards stationed where the Titans were being kept, as well as some other individuals in different cells, were startled when their prison's walls were blown apart. "Titans, go!" Following his famed battle cry, Robin ran forth, jumped in the air, felled a pair of guards and continued towards the exit.

As a band of guards were advancing on the other Titans, Beast Boy changed into a green copy of the alien dogs he'd seen previously. He cried out loudly, causing the men to drop their weapons and run away, screaming like little girls. "Nice," Gale commented.

"How did you know you could do that?" Cyborg asked.

"Umm, lucky guess."

* * *

Blackfire and the green blob were standing at the far end of one of the palace's wide open rooms, as the trumpeters were bellowing music. A large crowd of Tamaranians were gathered on the sides, a red carpet going through the middle. The doors at the other end opened up, allowing for Galfor to walk in with Starfire. The giant kanorfka growled menacingly at the groom when they got close. It recoiled as if struck, but then came close to Starfire when he stood off. "Where are my friends?" she asked when she noticed their absence.

"Guess they had better things to do," her sister answered. "Now smile pretty for your new hubby." Starfire leaned away a little from the green creature. "My humble servants, we meet at moonset to bind my sister to this handsome young sqlurch in joyous betrothal. Can any among us offer reason why these two lovebirds should not be together… forever?" Silence lingered in the room as no one answered.

"Didn't think so. Do you, Glurdleslqetch, take Starfire to be wife, as decreed by the Grand ruler of Tamaran?" The blob uttered out a few sounds that Blackfire took as a yes. "And do you, Starfire, take Glurdleslqetch to be your husband?"

"I… I" she said hesitantly.

"Yes, sister dear?" Blackfire pressed on.

The sound of a window smashing caused everyone assembled to look up. "Starfire!" Robin shouted, then rolled out of the way as one of the guards swung his weapon at him. The guard was then picked up by a blast of wind and sent crashing into another. A third was downed when the team leader swept his feet out from under him and kicked him in the stomach. The people assembled in the room below started to mutter amongst themselves at the sight.

"Silence. Silence!" Blackfire spoke loudly, quieting the crowd. "Do you wish to do what is right and take this thing to be your husband?"

"I do not!"

Blackfire's eyes glowed red and she shot out a beam of energy from the palm of her hand which hurled Starfire back across the room. "I thought we agreed your would do what is best for Tamaran, little sister," she said as she floated down the dais. "You will marry the sqlurch!"

The doors slammed open as the five other Titans came in. "Starfire, it's a trick! All of it!" Robin warned her. "Blackfire's been lying to everyone!"

Starfire stood up and faced her sister. "You are not best for Tamaran."

"You dare challenge the Grand Ruler?"

The younger one's eyes glowed green as her powers burned away the wedding gown, leaving her with her usual cheerleader like outfit. "I challenge my sister, for the crown." That said, both of them flew in the air. Blackfire put her hands together and fired a large beam of red energy that slammed into the red haired girl, slamming her into one of the columns on the wall.

"Starfire!" Robin called out as he went to run towards his friend.

"Hold," Galfor said. "If anyone interferes, the challenge is void. The princess will lose."

"Besides, our girl can handle herself," Cyborg pitched in.

Blackfire threw a few red starbolts and lunged at her sister, who flew up to avoid her, and continued moving when she was being hounded by a pair of continuous eyebeams. Starfire then turned around in her flight and hurled a pair of green starbolts, which interrupted her sibling's fire, who opted to create a shield to protect herself. Although it stopped the offense, the smoke it kicked up obscured her view, until Starfire connected with a starbolts covered fist, sending her crashing through the wall.

The younger one followed through the hole to the next room, throwing a bunch of Starbolts at her sister who took flight to avoid them. She then retaliated by turning around and firing a blast of red energy from her hand which sent her through another wall. The alien Titan hurled a veritable barrage of starbolts as Blackfire went to follow her. Yet when the smoke cleared, her opponent was unscathed. She tapped the jewel at her neckline. "The jewel of Charta. I'm invincible." She placed her hands together and sent out a wave of red energy which slammed into Starfire. She then picked up a sofa and hurled it at her, and then another, and then grabbed a column which she broke on her. The onlookers cringed at the sight of their friend taking such a blow. "Besides, you'll always be my little sister."

"I am not so little anymore!" Starfire fired her eyebeams at her sister and knocked her back. She then came down upon Blackfire and they both went through the floor. Soon after, Starfire was blasted back the other way by her sister's eyebeams. The elder sibling followed up by tackling her all the way back into the room they'd started off in, then swinging her around and pitching her onto the floor.

"That's right," she said as Starfire was on her knees. "Bow down before your Grand Ruler."

Starfire lifted her up. "You may be the ruler of this planet, but you are not the ruler of me!" In response, Blackfire conjured a large ball of energy in her hands, which she hurled at her sister. Starfire jumped over it and lunged at her adversary who met her head on. The elder sibling slid back when she was struck with a hard punch. She then looked down and gasped when she saw that her precious jewel had been shattered as a result.

Starfire fired her eyebeams with enough powers to send Blackfire slamming into the wall, then followed up with an impressive barrage of starbolts. The black haired girl stood still for a moment, then fell face-down, her crown rolling to Starfire's feet. She picked it up and placed it on her head. "The challenge is complete. Tamaran has a new Grand Ruler."

The people around cheered at her success. "Woo hoo!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

Starfire waited for the cheering to die down before speaking up again. "Henceforth, my sister shall be banished from Tamaran."

"Banished! Are you joking? Where am I supposed to live?" Starfire looked at the green blob who was floating nearby. "You wish." A pair of guards took her by the arms to lead her away. "I won't forget this, sister dear."

"So, now that you rule the planet, I guess you'll be staying here," Robin said disappointedly.

"I must do what is right for Tamaran."

* * *

Later, Starfire was standing at one of the balconies overlooking the Tamaranian people gathered below. "All hail Empress Starfire!" Galfor announced to them.

The Titans had saddened expressions as they looked at their friend. "Someone wise once told me to listen to my heart," the alien teenager spoke. "And so I overthrew my sister because she was not best for Tamaran. And now, my heart is telling me that I am also not best for Tamaran." The people listening below muttered amongst themselves in surprise at this. "My life and my heart is on earth. That is where I belong." Robin, Gale, Cyborg, Beast Boy and Raven smiled upon hearing her words. "But I leave you in good hands." She took off the crown, flew up a little and placed it on Galfor's head. "The hands that cared for me as a child. All hail Emperor Galfor."

"All hail Galfor! All hail Galfor! All hail Galfor!"

"Let us now return to Earth, please," Starfire said to her friends. "I am feeling the sick for my home. My real home."

"And let's hurry!" Beast Boy spoke up. "I couldn't figure out how to use the bathrooms here!"

"We are not having any accidents in the T-Ship!" Cyborg warned him. "You got it?"

"I'm glad you'll be staying with the Titans for a long time, and not getting married," Robin said.

"Yes, the next time I shall choose my own husband. Who is to know? Perhaps there is a groom for me on Earth." Starfire gave Galfor a final hug, before rejoining her friends.

* * *

**Gale: I thought you said I was going to get loads of action in this chapter! Almost the whole thing revolves around Starfire!**

**Starfire: Please, tell me friend, is this a problem?**

**Gale: Errrm, of course not! No problem at all!**

**Me: Last chapter I said two chapters from now. And since that was one chapter back from now, it would now mean one chapter ahead from now. Got it?**

**Gale: ... Whatever! You better keep your word. Or else...**

**Me: Hey, I'm the author!I have the supreme power over this fic. Muahahahahahaha!**

Please review if you liked it, if you didn't, or if you just want to point out some error I made.


	12. An Old Nightmare Returns

Disclaimer: Still don't own the Teen Titans

I've finally finished this chapter! Which happened to be my longest one ever, of all my fics. And also, this chapter contains a fair load of action and it reveals a chunk of Gale's past. Enjoy!

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**An Old Nightmare Returns**

Gale twisted and turned on his bed, his sleep perturbed by an all too familiar nightmare. In his dream, he was younger, about eight years old. Destruction was sown around them, and other places in Jump City. Cars hurled away, buildings in ruins, the street layered with cracks and fissures, but none of that mattered to him. He ignored all of it as he was kneeling down next to his mother, gently holding her head in his arms as she barely managed to raise her hand and speak her final words. "Be brave Amicus. I love you." Her hand then fell down and her body slumped as died.

"No," Gale muttered to himself. "Mommy… Please… No…"

The evil giant figure yawned as he watched this unfold with a bored look. "Ok kid, you've had long enough already. She's said her last words, and now you've said yours." He raised his right hand and aimed it towards the kneeling boy. A mass of dark crackling energy started to gather in the palm of his hand, pitch black like night itself. "Buh bye." He then released the energy and shot out a large wave directly at his intended victim. It exploded in a spectacular way, kicking up a cloud of dust which totally obscured anyone from seeing the results.

A second passed in silence, then two, and three. The wicked being simply stood there for the brief moment that it took for the scene to clear up. But when it did, his face became a portrait of shock at the sight before him. Instead of vaporizing his prey, mortally wounding him, or finishing him off in whatever manner he had intended to, the bolt had had no effect whatsoever. The little boy was still kneeling beside his mother's body, but was surrounded by an unbending dome of air. "NO! IMPOSSIBLE!" the giant cried out in surprise.

The young metahuman set down his mother's head and dispersed the barrier as he stood straight. He looked directly at his enemy's face, his golden eyes glowing fiercely. The giant could not help but take a step back in fear, as he sensed the overwhelming power and rage emanating from the boy.

* * *

Gale woke up with a start, sitting up straight in his bed. Sweat dribbled profusely down his face as he breathed deeply, clutching his chest while recovering from the nightmare he'd just relived. He looked at the clock resting on the nightstand next to his bed. It showed 12:00 AM on bold red lights. Incorporated into the electronic screen, was a part that indicated the date had just become May 26. "It's that day again," Gale muttered to himself.

He pulled the covers aside, got up and walked out of his room. Rubbing his eyes as he walked about the hallway almost aimlessly, Gale's dulled senses did not alert him to Robin's presence, causing them to bump into each other. "Hey Gale. What're you doing at this time of night?"

"Woke up, can't sleep," was the answer. "Where're you off to?"

"Downstairs. The basement."

"Mind if I come with?"

Robin shrugged his shoulders at this. "Sure, if you want."

* * *

After walking through hallway and down the staircase all the way, they found themselves in their home's wide open basement. Robin flicked a switch, which turned on a dim light over their heads. They walked to a large stack of cardboard shoeboxes. Gale went over the tags labeling their contents, until one on the top caught his attention and he chose to pull it out. He set it on the floor and took off the lid, revealing a handheld laser weapon, a communication device with an 'S' on it and a mask just like the one Slade himself use to wear. Intrigued by this, Gale picked up the mask, coughing a little when a bit of dust reached him. "Slade," Robin muttered when he noticed what his teammate was holding.

"What happened to him anyway?"

"Terra broke free from his control and triggered volcano in the process. Supposedly he fell into a pit of lava, but he was never captured or found."

"You're thinking he survived somehow?"

"He's proven time and again that he's capable of incredible levels of deception."

"Uh huh," Gale nodded absentmindedly. 'What if that one was still around? No, he couldn't be.'

The tell tale sound of the alarm grabbed their attention away from their rummaging. "Trouble," Robin noted. Gale dropped the mask back into its box and ran off with his fellow Titan.

* * *

A crescent moon hung in the midnight sky, though it was much obscured by the dull gray cloud passing by. The scenery was on a rural road, abundant trees on one end, and a railing perched between the other side and a hilly descent. Two police cars had been smashed against a clump of trees, while a few other vehicles lay abandoned on the road. The monstrous Cinderblock stood facing a squadron of Jump City's policemen, who were huddled together with their riot shields and weapons. Cinderblock raised his arms and struck the ground with a double handed blow which tore through the pavement and sent the policemen flying back. Growling, he picked up a nearby truck and held it over his head, but was then forced back by a barrage of Starbolts. It looked up and saw the Teen Titans arrayed against him. "Drop it, Cinderblock," Robin said. "Before we drop you."

In response, the monster hurled the truck at them as if it was a mere toy, but Raven caught it with her powers and broke it apart. That done, the Titans charged at their enemy. Cinderblock put his hands in front of his face as Starfire peppered him with starbolts, then let up when Robin jumped up and slammed his staff in the behemoth's face. He was then struck by a blade of air, followed by Beast Boy ramming him as a stegosaurus. The stone monster was taken back to the edge of the road, just past the railing, when he managed to stop the green dinosaur, pick him up and throw him back towards his friends.

The changeling became himself again, sailing over Cyborg's head as the robotic teenager ran towards Cinderblock with his sonic cannon primed. He jumped in the air and threw a punch with his cannon arm, which was stopped by a large stone fist. Cinderblock then swatted him to the ground with his other hand and stepped on him hard. He raised an arm to strike a downward blow, but was stopped when the truck's claw piece trapped his arm against his waist.

The giant stepped back as Raven held the claw clasped around him with her powers, while Starfire bombarded him with Starbolts, Cyborg got up and fired a beam of sonic energy and Gale a beam of wind. Faced with that, Cinderblock grabbed the claw's cable with his free hand and swung it around, causing Raven to slam into her alien friend and knock both of them to the ground.

Robin ran at their enemy, jumped up and started repeatedly pounding on his head with his staff. He then kicked off the stone monster's face, moving out of the way for Cyborg to come in with a punch from his armed sonic cannon. Cinderblock slammed the palm of his hand into the robotic teen, throwing him a good distance away. Gale materialized his transparent sword as he flew towards the Titans' opponent. He held the blade in both hands and swung it hard in passing, creating a noticeable gash on Cinderblock's right shoulder.

The giant roared at this and broke through the metal claw, sending out its pieces which Gale dropped down to avoid. He jumped in the air and slammed both feet on the ground, causing the pavement around him to break apart. Gale barely had the time to surround himself with a buffer of air as a large chunk of the road came crashing into him. Even so, it still sent him tumbling down the hillside and into the forest below. Cinderblock roared and rushed towards the other Titans as they came to met him.

* * *

While his friends fought against the stone giant, Gale was only just getting to his feet, after having fallen down to the forested ground below. He shook his head a little, but as he got to his knees, he caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure ahead. He quickly stood up and held his transparent sword in one hand. Scanning the terrain around, his eyes spotted the character in question, leaning his back against a tree. "You!" Gale cried out, cold rage flooding into his voice.

'You', turned out to be a man about six feet tall, with short bleached white hair and eyes that were entirely black. He wore a dark gray suit, matching boots, his entire body was surrounded by an aura of dark energy and he looked at Gale with a sneer on his face. "Hello, there," he spoke deeply, with a mocking tone. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"I thought you were dead," Gale spat out as raised his sword threateningly.

The man chuckled at this. "As you can see, I'm quite alive, unlike your precious mother." The winged metahuman's face lit up in anger at these words and he flung his weapon towards his sworn enemy. But he merely disappeared, causing it to impale the tree behind him. Rain started to fall as Gale willed his sword to disappear. "Oh, did I hit a nerve?" the man's voice spoke from higher up. "Pity you're just too slow."

"I don't know how you came back, but I'll make sure it never happens again!" Gale leapt into the air and flew towards the shrunken giant. Smirking at his attempt, he jumped up to higher branches with ease. Gale remained in pursuit, lashing out with razor blades of air which sliced apart foliage, branches and trees. However, none of them hit their intended target, as it simply kept moving through the tree tops while avoiding the offenses.

Enraged further, Gale spun on himself and sent out a whirlwind which tore apart a tree the villain had jumped to. When he stopped, only a part of it remained, but his nemesis was standing on the top of the trunk, arms crossed and grinning wickedly. "You've gotten soft since last we met. As a mere child you were much better than this." Gale landed on a thick branch not too far from him and stared fiercely, dripping wet from the rain. "You should save your energy, boy. You'll need it. I only freed Cinderblock to get your attention. And now that I have it…"

"What're you planning to do?" he demanded as he materialized a pair of gauntlets over his hands and stood in a fighting stance.

"Since I'm feeling generous, I'll tell you. I've stolen three seismic generators and placed them on fault lines all over the city. And in only three hours, they'll trigger an earthquake that will break your city apart."

"Not if I break you first!" Gale launched himself at the villain, swinging his fists at him. But the evil maniac simply leapt over him, causing him to punch the tree trunk instead. He turned around and came back at his enemy who was casually standing on the branch Gale had previously been. Sneering at the winged boy, he jumped off his perch and dropped to the ground without a bruise.

As he dove down after him, Gale changed his gauntlets into twin spikes of air and sent them ahead. However, just before they struck him, there was a flash of lightning and then he was nowhere to be seen. Gale opened his wings wide and to slow down and landed gently on the ground. Being unable to see his enemy, he waved his hand and the spikes faded away.

"Uhh, sorry to interrupt your little nature hike," Beast Boy spoke up. He and the other Titans were standing nearby, Raven floating with an umbrella of telekinetic energy to shield herself from the rain. "But, WHERE WERE YOU! We had to finish off Cinderblock by ourselves, in the rain and… achoo!" The changeling sneezed loudly and changed into a small elephant. "Great," he said as he returned to normal. "Now I've got a cold."

"I met one of my past enemies," Gale answered, a dead serious expression on her face. "I thought he was done for, but apparently not."

"Okay then," Cyborg spoke up. "So who is it?"

"Doesn't have a name as far as I know. But he's got short hair that's bleached, his eyes are nothing but black and his whole body's surrounded by a aura of dark energy. Last time I saw him he was at least ten feet tall, but now he's only six."

Robin had frowned upon hearing this. His mind went back to the day Gale had been taken to Titan's Tower, more specifically, to the image he'd seen in the Herald's archives. The description Gale had just given them fit exactly with the one of the experiment that'd broken out from Wayne Enterprises. Raven also had a thoughtful expression on her face, going back to the same image she'd seen and the conversation she'd had with Gale before he'd agreed to join their team. "What happened then?" the team leader asked.

"He's planning to use three stolen seismic generators to create an earthquake big enough to rip the city to pieces. We've only got three hours to stop it."

"Cyborg, check out the bridge," Robin said. "Raven, Gale, take the park. Beast Boy, the pier. Starfire, we'll go after-"

"No," Gale interrupted. "He's my responsibility."

"Gale," Raven spoke up. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"I have to see to it he's taken down for good this time." He stared at the Boy Wonder who hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Okay. I'll be with Raven to look around the park. Starfire, you go with Gale after this bad guy."

* * *

A while after splitting up, and Starfire and Gale were still walking in the woods by themselves. "Fear not, Gale," the alien girl spoke up. "We will stop him."

"We don't have any other choice," he responded in a deadpan tone. Their communicators beeped and they picked them up.

"Hey guys," Cyborg spoke up. "I'm at the bridge."

"Did you find the seismic generator?" Gale asked.

"Man, I can't find diddly. No signs of anything unusual."

"Nothing here either," Raven added from her end.

"I found squat," Beast Boy said, then fell into a fit of sneezing.

"Gale," Robin's voice came through. "Are you really sure about all this?"

"Yes. They're there. Just keep searching." Gale shut off his communicator and threw it to the ground in anger. "They know where to look for the generators but they can't even find them."

Starfire bent down to pick up the discarded communicator. "They will be found, Gale," she reassured him. "Please, you must have faith in your friends." She looked in confusion as he suddenly began to run ahead. "Gale?"

A brief sprint later, and he stood on in a clearing, the giant of his nightmare standing before him. "Tick tock," he taunted. "Your time's running out. This is going to be easier than I'd imagined."

Gale conjured a large wave of air to crush the villain, but he simply stood still as it came down upon him, and was unharmed when the dust cleared away. Regardless of such, the enraged Titan flew straight for him, his right hand covered in a spiked gauntlet. But when he got close enough, the man side stepped and grabbed his arm, slamming him hard into the ground. Gale flipped himself up and lashed out with his foot, air molded around it to make it look like a bird's talon. The evil one caught this with one hand, and sent him flying back with a fist covered in crackling energy.

Gritting his teeth, Gale summoned a tornado that tore across the ground on its path towards its target. It suddenly stopped when he was struck in the side by a dark colored bolt. "Gale!" Starfire called out to him. The former giant turned around and ran away from his adversary.

"Starfire, stop him!" Gale shouted.

But to his surprise, he went straight by without her seeming to notice. When Gale got next to his Tamaranian teammate, the villain was gone. Anger was obviously present, merely by the way he was breathing. "What happened!" he shouted at Starfire. "He ran right by you! How could you let him get away!"

"But… there was no one there."

* * *

Back in the city, Cyborg, Robin and Raven were waiting on the sidewalk. They were soon joined by Beast Boy, who came in as a bird, but sneezed when he got there and flopped down as a pig, before changing into his usual self. "I've looked everywhere. I think this guy sent us on a…" The shape shifter sneezed again, becoming a goose.

"Wild goose chase," Raven finished.

"I've run a complete sweep of the city's seismic faults," Cyborg announced. "They're all clean. I'm thinking all this seismic generator stuff is just one of this new bad guy's tricks."

Starfire then landed amidst her friends. "I am not so certain he is behind this."

"What happened?" Robin asked. "And where's Gale?"

"Gale has chosen to search on his own."

"Why?" Beast Boy inquired, obviously confused by this.

"He said he saw the evil man which he had described and that he had run by me. I tried to see him, I truly did, but… I could not. Then, he became very angry at me because of this. Even against the Johnny Rancid he was not as angry."

"This is getting too serious," Robin said. "We need to find Gale and confront him."

* * *

After having searched by himself for a while, Gale happened to come across an old, abandoned underground complex. He walked through an empty corridor and blew open a pair of rusty doors at the end. He came into a massively wide open room, inhabited only by piles of junk metal and an incomplete walkway going across the middle. His eyes and ears remained alert to their sharpest extent, but even so, he only just caught a glance of a shadowy figure zooming by. Gale followed until loosing track of it. "So, now it's just you and me," the voice he'd been listening for spoke up.

"Show yourself!" Gale demanded. "Come out and fight!"

"Relax, little boy." The Titan turned around and saw his nemesis standing atop a pile of junk. "I'm not going anywhere."

Gale materialized a platform in mid air, jumped on it, flipped off and zoomed towards his enemy. But when he got to where he'd been seen, there was nothing. Hovering with his wings stretched out, he spotted him further down and commanded a gust of wind to rise and topple the mound of metal below him. The whole thing came crashing down upon the villain, but when it was finished, he was simply standing a few feet from the debris. Still filled with anger, he recklessly dove down at him, but at a few feet away, a dark bolt came from above the charging metahuman and dropped him to the floor.

"Pity your friends aren't able to help you."

"Why wasn't Starfire able to see you?" Gale asked as he got to his feet.

"It's hardly a challenge for someone like me to get my hands on technology these days. When you know where to look for what you want, seizing it barely takes any time."

"So, your powers weren't destructive enough. You have to go around stealing to destroy or hide whatever you want."

"That may be. But for you, I don't need any of it." Gale then sent out a large blade of air, yet his enemy blasted the ground at his feet, propelling himself up and out of the way. The young teen then spotted him looking down from the walkway's edge.

He took to the air and darted towards him again. As he flew, he materialized a flurry of spikes, all of which he hurled at the villain. And though they obliterated part of the walkway, their target simply stood further back from the destruction. The villain clapped his hands together and spread them outwards, sending a net of dark purple energy towards Gale. He rolled sideways to avoid the incoming snare, but wasn't quite fast enough, as the tip of his wing was nicked. The dark energy coursed through his body like it was electric, causing him to plummet onto the walkway and land in front of his enemy.

"Your friends won't find the generators. And they can't see me." He knelt down to look him directly in the face. "They can't see the truth, even when it's right in front of their eyes." Gale created a pulse of air which he used to flip himself up and back away from the taunting figure. He solidified the air behind him into a wall which he held onto.

"Then I'll just have to take care of you myself. I've stopped you before and I'll do it again."

"Come now. If you really stopped me, then why am I here?" Gale gave no reply other than letting go of the wall with his hand and kicking off to give himself momentum. The villain simply stepped aside, but Gale twisted his body and flipped so that he was facing the opposite direction. Another wall appeared, which he kicked off towards his enemy, who grabbed his shirt and swung him off the walkway and down to the ground. He thickened the air below, allowing for him to land on his feet. "How pathetic." Gale turned around to see the villain behind him. "You can't save your city, or even yourself."

This was followed up by an energy covered fist slugging him in the gut. Gale rose to his hands and knees as he saw the former giant coming down at him. He flew back to avoid the falling kick, but was promptly hit in the chest by an energy bolt which slammed him into a large metal gear. His enemy walked over, picked him up by the shirt and turned around. His free hand crackled with dark energy, then punched him hard. Gale managed to fall on his feet and prepared himself to whip up a massive tornado, but before he could do so, a dark cloud appeared overhead, from which a pitch black lightning bolt of energy came and struck dead center.

* * *

While Gale was getting beaten up, his fellow Titans were coming down the hallway of the same building he'd come in already. "Gale's locator signal," Cyborg said when his arm started to beep. "He's nearby."

A crash, followed by the sound of Gale crying out in pain reached their ears. "Very nearby," Raven noted.

They ran the rest of the way and came to the entrance of the room a few seconds later. A light popped up from Cyborg's shoulder allowing them to clearly see their teammate. His uniform was ripped open in numerous places, he was bleeding in a few places, but instead of the usual red color, his was white. Though this surprised his friends, even worse was that it seemed as if he was getting pummeled by someone, except that there was no one else. "Umm, since when is Gale into mime?" Beast Boy questioned.

"NO!" Gale turned in his friends' direction, looking for something which he appeared not to see. "What're you doing here!"

"I don't think there are any generators, man" Cyborg explained. "We looked everywhere."

"He must be cloaking them, just like he's cloaking himself. That's why you couldn't see him."

"But if I could not see him," Starfire began. "Why could you?"

"…What're you trying to say?"

"Gale, are you absolutely sure you saw this guy you told us about?" Raven asked.

"Saw him? I fought him! You think I did this to myself!" he indicated his torn uniform.

"This is the only way out," Robin spoke up. "We've been standing here the whole time. No one got past us."

"No one's been in here but us," Cyborg pointed out.

"I don't have time to talk. I'll have to find the generators myself." Gale started to walk towards the exit, but Robin stood in front of him with a hand raised to stop him.

"There are no generators! Your bad guy isn't real!"

"I know what I saw!" Gale shouted. "You don't have any idea what he's done! I have to stop him, I'm the only one who can." He took a few steps back and materialized his transparent sword. "And I'll take down anyone who get's in my way." Starfire, Beast Boy, Robin and Cyborg looked at him in surprise. Raven's absence was explained when her black telekinetic energy hit him from behind, knocking him out.

* * *

Later on, Gale lay strapped on one of the beds in the infirmary of Titans' Tower, electrodes attached to sides of his head. His state of unconsciousness had been prolonged due to the fact that he'd been injected with anesthetics. The other Titans were standing outside, looking at a screen displaying his condition.

"But must we keep him restrained?"

"He threatened us, Star," Robin said. "He's dangerous."

"Dangerous!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "Try totally flipped out insane!"

"We still haven't figured out what caused him to go haywire," Cyborg pointed out.

"He's gone even crazier then you were when Slade was still around."

Robin held his chin in one hand as he had a thoughtful expression on his face. "Slade… that's it!"

"What's it?" Raven asked.

"Before Cinderblock attacked, Gale and I went down into the basement. He took down a box of Slade's stuff, but when he picked up his mask, a bit of dust came up and made him cough. But if it wasn't really dust…"

"Then it was probably something else entirely!" Cyborg realized. The screen in front of them suddenly began to flare dramatically. "His readings are going off the chart!" The Titans rushed into the infirmary. Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy and Robin held Gale pinned down while Cyborg took a needle and poked it into his arm. The anesthetic took its effect and his struggling eased down until he was immobile like before. "We need to run a CAT scan on him to get to the root of the problem." They rolled the machine in question next to Gale's bed, so that the main part rested over his head. Then remained silent throughout the process, until Cyborg pulled it away.

"Well… what is it?" Robin inquired.

"Slade's mask contained a chemical reagent that's infiltrated his central nervous system. That's what's wrong with him."

"Then how are we to make Gale normal again?" Starfire wondered.

Cyborg sighed in desperation. "I'm not sure."

"I think I know how," Raven spoke up. "The person the reagent is making Gale see is in his mind."

"Okay, and where are you getting with this?"

"I need to go into his mind, like you and Beast Boy did when you found my mirror."

Beast Boy stared at the young sorceress for a moment. "Are you crazy!"

"The stuff he inhaled is putting stress on his brain and endangering his body. If I dive into his mind and help set it right, he'll return to normal."

"Raven…"

"Robin I have to do this. Otherwise Gale might not make it."

"Robin, please," Starfire said softly. "If Raven can save him, then we should let her do so."

"Isn't there a better way?" Raven shook her head in response to Beast Boy's question. "Well, if there really isn't any other choice, then I vote for."

"Same here," Cyborg added.

"It's unanimous."

The Titan's caster nodded at this. "You guys should wait outside."

"Raven, just do your best."

"I will." Cyborg, Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy walked out of the infirmary, leaving the two others alone in there. Raven sat cross legged and hovered in mid air next to her friend. She breathed deeply and chanted her mantra slowly. "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos." Her eyes glowed white, and then she felt her energy, her soul, flow into Gale.

* * *

When Raven landed on solid ground, she opened up her eyes, and blinked at what lay around her. She was in a wide clearing in a forest dotted with all manner of trees, from twenty feet tall to mere seedlings. Above was a clear blue sky, populated by a few drifting wisps of white and a noontime sun. In the middle of the clearing, was a playground, much like one would find in a schoolyard. As she walked over to it, he noticed two figures, a small boy wearing a light colored shirt and jeans, happily playing around, and a young man with darker clothes who was standing aside while watching him. Upon closer examination, she saw that both of them were Gale, a fact that was given away by the brown wings sticking out through their backs. "Yipeee, a visitor!" the little boy exclaimed gleefully as he saw Raven coming. He abandoned his sand castle and rushed to meet the Titan's sorceress. "Hi miss Raven! I'm Happy!"

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Look at this!" Happy then turned around and ran to a pile of leaves nearby, jumping in the midst of them. "Weeeee!"

"Excitable little guy," she commented.

"Indeed," the older one agreed, keeping an eye on his younger counterpart as he stood face to face with Raven. "He is all of Gale's happier memories put together and given form."

"And you are?"

"If you need a name to call to call me, Duty will be fine."

"Listen, I'm here to find out what's wrong with Gale and make him right again. Can you help me?"

"I am obliged to help as I can. But the path to saving your friend is one you must walk alone." Raven nodded in response. He gently placed a palm against her forehead, and then things changed.

* * *

Raven found herself in an alleyway like many of those in Jump City. She spotted Gale lying on a beaten up mattress on the ground, from when he still wore his black cloak around himself. He got to his feet, stretched his limbs and started to walk away. A plea for help suddenly arose, at which Gale quickly ran towards it, passing through Raven as if she were a ghost. She followed until he got to a young woman backed against a wall by an unsavory man, where he stepped between the two. Raven simply watched and listened, as the events unfolded, until Gale froze the man in place, warned him clearly to not repeat his actions, and let him go, at which he ran away.

The scenery changed to show Gale standing a distance from a roadside diner. He remained immobile, until Terra and Beast Boy came out in a hurry, and then flew away on a piece of earth which the blond girl pulled out of the ground, Beast Boy's communicator falling to the ground. Raven saw him make his way over to the discarded object and pick it up. He silently cursed to himself, but still answered Robin's call and promised to help.

Again the surroundings changed, this time so that they were on the sidewalk of an almost empty street in Gotham City. Gale was walking peacefully by himself, until a richly dressed couple passed by. The woman stuck up her nose and sneered, while the man scoffed and looked as if the cloaked boy was but a piece of trash. Gale kept walking despite their insults, but a short moment afterwards, he turned around and saw the same two people surrounded by a half dozen men, obviously with ill intentions. A dome of air suddenly appeared around the frightened couple, stopping the muggers in their tracks. They looked around in confusion, until noticing Gale steadily coming towards them. "I got im," the largest one said, then went to meet him.

They stopped at a short distance from each other. "Let them go," Gale ordered in a stern voice, pointing to the couple still quivering from within the dome.

"You're really gonna risk yourself for two pricks like them?" The only response he got was a pair of golden eyes staring at him from under the cloak's hood. "Pff, your funeral." The thug reached for a hunting knife at his belt, but Gale simply flicked his wrist, at which he was blown off his feet and crashed into the dome of air. The five others stood shocked at this, more so when they realized that they were frozen in place. A gust of wind herded them close together, after which transparent walls came into existence, trapping the muggers whose bonds were then released.

The couple's protection no longer necessary, Gale dispersed it. "Call the cops," he said, then turned his back on them and walked away.

* * *

Raven found herself standing in front of the young adult version of Gale. "Those were only some of his memories which revolve around duty."

"I see," Raven muttered, her thoughts momentarily flashing back to the first time she'd met Gale up close.

"You should check out what Happy has for you."

The young sorceress nodded at this and walked over to the little boy who was dangling from a set of monkey bars. He let himself drop at halfway when he saw Raven walking towards him. "Hey Miss Raven!"

"Hey," she replied simply.

"Wanna play a game? I show you happy moments, and we both have fun!"

"Sure, go ahead." The young boy clapped his hands, then grabbed Raven's, at which she was taken elsewhere.

* * *

Raven stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking empty grassland, a version of Gale similar to Happy next to her. "Okay then, this is it." He sprinted the short distance to the very edge and leapt off. The young sorceress followed as his wings expanded and carried him through the sky. His feelings leaked into her, the thrill of flying for the first time, the adrenaline rush that came with it, the air blowing against his face and the sensation of floating so high.

The scene changed once again. This time to a typical looking kitchen in a well kept apartment building. A cake made like a bald eagle rested on a round wooden table, a candle shaped into a '9' lit up in the center. Alongside it was a box covered in red and yellow wrapping paper. A woman walked into the room, directing a blindfolded Gale who was nearly identical to the last towards the table. She was in her early thirties, wore dark blue jeans and a shirt with 'Adam's Bakery' written on the front. She had long sleek black hair, deep green eyes and a caring motherly appearance. "Can I look now?" he asked when they stopped.

"Just let me take the blindfold off." The woman untied the blindfold, opening up his eyes to the sight of cake and a present in front of him. "Happy birthday, Amicus." She pulled out a chair for him to sit on. "Come on now, blow the candle and make a wish." The little boy thought for a moment, then blew the candle out. "Here you go," she said as she pushed the present towards him.

He tore away the wrapping paper, opening a small box from which contained a piece of paper with handwriting. It read 'I.O.U an outing to wherever you like.' He hopped off his chair and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "Thank you mommy, you're the greatest!"

From here the kitchen shifted into a simple bedroom, nighttime showing through the window. Gale wore a set of green Mickey Mouse pajamas, rubbing his eyes as he trudged along to the bed and climbed in. His mother came in soon after, gently grabbing the blankets and covering her son with them. "Love you, Amicus."

"Love you mommy."

"Good night and sleep well."

"Good… night," he said with a yawn, his mother giving him a loving look as she watched him fall asleep.

Raven was then taken to the rooftop of Titans' Tower, and was surprised to see herself standing behind Gale. Looking at the scene, she recognized it to be the moment leading up to Gale joining their team. She watched and listened as they spoke, until her other self said those words which took away his sadness and he thanked her for them.

* * *

Raven reappeared at the playground, Happy looking at her expectantly. "How was it?"

"It was… interesting, and helpful."

"Yayyyy! Glad to have helped!"

"Thanks, but I'm afraid I'll have to go."

"Okay then. Just follow the trail through the forest," Happy indicated a small dirt road leading through the woods. "Bye Miss Raven!"

"Goodbye and good luck," Duty said as she walked away.

* * *

The Titan's sorceress walked down the beaten path, pondering on what she'd seen so far. The memories Duty had shown unveiled more about his character, while those from Happy had revealed some of his past. While these thoughts passed through her head, a figure ran by in front of her. She looked in the direction it had gone, and saw that it resembled the other memory being she'd already met. Raven chased after it, running as fast as she could across the forest floor. She managed to keep her objective in sight, progressively gaining ground, until coming within shouting distance. "Wait!"

The figure stopped in its tracks and didn't move as Raven walked over. When she got close, he turned around to face her. This particular version of her friend looked just like the present Gale, although he wore no clothes from the waist up, thus exposing the symbol on his chest. "Greetings Raven," he spoke with a mystifying and ancient sounding voice. "I am Mystery."

"Is that why you had to run away from me?"

"I embody that which remains a secret even to your friend. I am the things he does not know or understand about himself."

"And that would be..."

"I merely represent such things. I do not possess the knowledge of what they mean. However, I can show you what you have come to see. Come closer." Raven took a step forward, at which the mark on his chest began to glow and the forest faded away.

* * *

A child version of Gale was sitting down at the kitchen table with his mother, munching halfheartedly on a chocolate chip cookie. "Is there something wrong?"

"Mommy, what was dad like?"

She thought about what to say for a moment before answering. "I first met him when I was on a hike in the woods with a group. I ended up getting separated from them and was lost, until he found me. Your father was… dazzling. He was very kind and considerate, took me into his arms and brought me back to the group. We saw each other many times afterward, fell in love and everything was just perfect."

"Why didn't he stay?"

"Because he was called away and had to leave. And even though he was gone just after you were born, he loved you very much."

The scenery changed to a rural road at early evening, with no vehicles coming from either direction. Gale, covered in his cloak, was walking on the side, chewing on an apple in his hand. He threw it away when there was nothing but the core left. That done, he tied his cloak into a bundle on his back, and making sure that no cars were coming, stretched out his wings and took to the air. Gale glided along at a moderate speed, eyes intermittently sweeping across the ground below. At one point, he spotted a sign which indicated that Jump City was fifty miles away. "_Go forth, Amicus,_" a feminine voice spoke within his mind, unknown, yet somehow familiar. "_Things will soon change for the better_."

This time, the young caster was taken to the scene where she and her friends had fought against Terra for the first time. The blond girl in question was floating on a boulder, opposite Gale who was hovering with his wings stretched out. Raven heard him shout in Latin, feeling his confusion at just having done that. Then came the moment when Terra commanded the boulder she held aside to fly towards him and he cut it apart with a wave of air. But both that and a second rock broke apart before hitting their intended targets. Raven watched the rest unfold, until she saw the same image which flashed through Gale's mind, of a woman outlined in earthen brown who seemed similar to Terra.

Following that, Raven landed at the aftermath of a different fight in Jump City. Her winged friend stood alone, amidst the destruction caused by his powers and enemies. The giant made up of Cinderblock, Plasmus and Overload was immobile on the ground, as were many of Slade's ruined combat robots. He placed a hand to his chest when the ground began to shake. The sensation from the mark seeped into Raven, who felt it as Terra's powers were at work, and when they stopped and it went cold.

* * *

"Well?" Mystery asked when she stood before him again.

"It seems strange that there's this much he doesn't know about himself," Raven muttered.

The figure before her simply shrugged his shoulders. "That's just the way it is. Who knows? Maybe someday he'll find the answers, or maybe they'll just remain a mystery."

Raven noticed that the path she'd run off from was out of sight. "Speaking of which, where am I supposed to go now?" He pointed his thumb to a trail of footprints which began a few feet off to the side and kept going in a mostly straight line. She wordless left Mystery behind and followed the tracks.

* * *

"How's it coming along?" Robin asked.

"Gale looks like he's doing a little better," Cyborg responded while looking at the screen in front of them. "But he's still got a long way to go."

"I hope that friend Raven is successful in making him better," Starfire said.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Beast Boy added.

* * *

Raven continued walking alongside the footsteps, until they stopped in front of a massive oak tree. She went up to its base, looking for something to help her out, when the ground suddenly gave out and she slid a short distance down a hole. Dusting herself off as she got to her feet, Raven realized that she was in an underground tunnel, with the occasional shaft of light casting a dim glow through the ceiling. "Forward it is." She started down the earthen tunnel at the same pace she'd previously been going. The young teenager noticed how the walls were pointedly blank, as if someone had purposefully swept everything aside and left nothing but seemingly lifeless dirt. After going on like this for a short while, she happened to see an alcove in one of the walls up ahead, and the outline of a person crouched within. "Umm, hello."

The figure sighed and raised its head, showing a pair of golden eyes. He slowly dragged himself out and stood up in front of Raven. This one was Gale as she remembered, except that he had dull gray clothing all over, unkempt hair and a disheartened expression on his face. "What is it?" he asked, his tone of voice as glum as his appearance.

"I'm here to help."

"So you say. I'm Depression, not that anyone cares."

"You have memories within you, right?" He nodded slowly. "Then I need to see them."

Depression sighed and let his shoulders slump. "If you want to see happy times, you're in the wrong place." Regardless of its gloomy disposition, Gale's mental projection still reached out and placed his index finger against her forehead.

A collection of memories appeared to Raven, flashing from one to the other. Gale sitting on a platform of air over a skyscraper while looking out at Titans' Tower, longing in his voice as he muttered to himself. Sitting alone against a school's wall, while the other children were staying away from him. Walking into the lunchroom of an orphanage, and running back out as the woman in charge freaked out at his appearance and children his age threw food, utensils and all manner of things at him. Clutching his coat around him as he walked through a hallway filled with students, many of whom jeered and mocked him. Molding a small statue of air and showing it to a familiar man sitting on a couch in front of a television, then turning around disappointedly as the man ignored his existence and the little girl next to him stuck out her tongue rudely.

Raven saw a few more memories of the same kind, before returning to the underground tunnel with Depression standing in front of her. "There you go," he said, letting his arm fall back. "Like I said, happy times aren't here." He started to crawl back into the alcove.

"Wait, please," Raven said.

He turned his head to look at her. "I suppose you want to know where to go next." Depression lazily waved its hand, and one of the shafts of light in the ceiling opened widely enough for her to go through. She then floated upward and out of the tunnel.

* * *

The Titan's sorceress found herself standing at the foot of a mountain. It was of great height, the peak touching dark angry clouds. Elsewhere the sky seemed as clear as she'd seen in the beginning, but it was as if a storm was purposefully gathered around the mountain and nowhere else. Its slope climbed at a steep angle, albeit still manageable, and was seeded with rocks of all sorts, many of them wicked, sharp and jagged. However, this was hardly an obstacle for Raven, who simply levitated over the surface.

She went forward and up in a steady manner, intent on reaching the mountaintop where she hoped to find the critical memory behind her friend's condition. The only sound was the seemingly distant rumbling that originated from the clouds. Just before reaching halfway, Raven came to a platform in front of a wall six feet tall and three wide. Sitting against the stone wall with his knees held against his chest, was a mirror image of Gale as she'd seen in Happy's second memory. He looked up just enough to see Raven, and began to quiver, apparently frightened.

"W-what d-do you want with m-me?" the little boy stuttered.

She knelt down to be at his level and tried to sound reassuring. "You're one of Gale's mental projections, aren't you?"

"Y-yes. I'm F-F-Fearful. P-please, d-don't hurt me."

"I'm not going to do anything bad. I just want to see whatever memory you have. Okay?" He gave a barely perceptible nod, at which Raven gently placed a hand on his shoulder and was taken into another of Gale's moments.

* * *

Gale was sitting at a desk in a classroom, alone except for an elderly woman with spectacles at the bridge of her nose who was reading a magazine. A sheet of paper was stretched out before him, and a small tray of different colored paints lay at hand. He was doing the final touches on a painting which showed a blue sky with some clouds and the sun shining down on a grassy field. Another patch of fluffy white, and it was deemed to be finished. "Miss Meyer?" he called to the teacher.

She looked up at him from her reading. "Hmm?"

"I'm done."

"Leave everything there, I'll take care of it."

Gale set down the materials and picked up a simple knapsack from the floor. He slung it over his back, buttoned up his blue coat the rest of the way and walked out of the classroom. He went down the corridor by himself, until being accosted by four kids, years older, one of whom Raven noticed was none other than Johnny Rancid at a young age. "Hey, check it out, it's the pointy ear dweeb!" one of his followers pointed out.

"You mean the pointy ear, yellow eye and green skin dweeb," Rancid corrected.

"What do you want?" Gale asked hesitantly, backing away from them.

"Ha! The little twerp talks!" another mocked.

"He must be some sort of reject science project."

"Or a freak of nature."

"Hey, freako! You hiding anything else?" Johnny asked.

"No," Gale lied, fear beginning to creep into him.

"Yeah right, like we're gonna believe you. Let's get im!" At that, the little boy bolted away from them, heading for the nearest exit as fast as he could. As he ran, he pulled off his backpack's straps and dropped it to the floor. The four older kids kept up the pursuit, chasing after him as he dashed out the door. For a brief moment it looked as though Gale might succeed in getting away, but he had the misfortune of tripping because of an uneven clump of grass, at which they pounced on him like predators after prey.

One of them picked him up by the collar and ripped open his coat, revealing a dark blue t-shirt. Johnny punched Gale in the stomach, while the first jerked off his coat and smacked him in the head with it. They kicked his sides a few times, before Rancid grabbed the front of his shirt. "Please, don't," Gale pleaded, fear plastered over his face.

The older boy simply ignored his request and pulled it over his head. While the four of them were surprised by the mark on his chest, they were taken aback more by his brown feathered wings. "Look at that, the freak's got wings!" They went to lash out at him again, but suddenly stopped and fell to the ground, clutching their throats. Gale shakily got up, and looked down at his aggressors, who were breathing again, if still unconscious. He then hurriedly put his coat back on and ran away, shaken by what they'd done to him and him to them.

* * *

Raven leaned back from Fearful as she returned to the platform. "You did that?"

"P-p-please! I d-didn't mean t-to!" the little boy answered, quivering in fright. "They were m-mean! I was sc-c-scared! It j-just happened!"

"I'm not going to hurt you," she reminded him. "But I still need to find exactly what's causing Gale's irregular behavior."

Fearful carefully got up and placed his hand against the wall behind him, at which a doorway appeared, big enough for Raven to pass through with ease. "The last one's in there," he mumbled. The young sorceress nodded to him and stepped through, the doorway sealing up behind her.

* * *

The interior was a wide corridor, with light coming from torches hanging on stone walls at intervals. Raven single-mindedly continued walking forward, concentrated on finding the memory behind the cause of their troubles. After going on in this manner for some time, she got to a point where the tunnel opened up into a sizeable space. In the very middle was a large stone column, with a staircase leading upward sculpted into it.

Seeing no other options presented before her, Raven went to the round staircase and headed upward. A set of handrails were carved into the column's inner walls, which were otherwise blank. She kept moving around and up, her boots against the stone steps making a light tapping sound, until the staircase ended in the middle of a room apparently close to the mountaintop. Thick glass windows gave an insight to the raging storm outside. Candlesticks and torches cast their dim light, making it seem like the shadows were dancing. Against the wall, directly opposite from where Raven had come from, was a throne made of dark clouds.

The figure seated upon it was an adult version of Gale, similar to Duty, except that it wore clothes with fiery colors. It held a wooden scepter in one hand, while the other lay on the armrest. Its eyes were golden, like all the others she'd seen, but his were radiating fury. "Hello, Raven," he spoke, a film of anger seeping into his voice.

"Fury? Or is it Rage?"

"Rage!" he spat out.

"You know why I'm here?"

"Of course I bloody well know! You stroll in here after looking through the others' memories, what else could you possibly want?"

"I've been searching for the answer as to why Gale went out of control. Since the path has led me right here, it must mean that the memory I'm looking for is here and that you have it."

"And what makes you think I'll show it to you? Why should I?"

"The reagent is causing him harm because of that specific memory. I need to see it."

"WHY SHOULD I CARE!" he shouted, his voice booming in every spare inch of the room.

"Because, if Gale doesn't survive, then neither will you."

Rage breathed deeply, still fuming with anger. "So be it!" he said in a moderately calmer tone. He, his throne and his scepter disappeared in a flash of light which washed over Raven.

* * *

The teenaged sorceress was now in the middle of one of the streets in Jump City. She could see destruction sown about, cars overturned, buildings wrecked, the street cracked, sidewalks torn apart and other such things. Gale's mother was running with her son, pursued by some demonic being. Raven turned around and saw the giant from the photo in the Herald's archives. A man ten feet tall, bleached white hair, a malefic expression on his face, purely black eyes, with an aura of dark energy, black around his head. The evil giant raised his hand and shot out a dark purple bolt of energy which struck the ground and tossed both back, causing them to land apart from each other.

The being laughed maliciously at them. "I must say, I do rather enjoy these powers. I had never realized how much fun this could be. But, as it would be safer to make sure no one interferes while I'm amusing myself…" He fixed his gaze on Gale directly. "I'm afraid I'll have to go through the process of removing any threat in the area." It raised its arm and gathered up another bolt in the palm of its hand, this one almost pitch black. "So long, little boy." And then he released the energy.

Gale's mother rose from where she lay and jumped at her son, pushing him out of the way, but causing the bolt to strike her dead center. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he shouted when he saw his mother lying hurt. He scrambled next to her and held her head in his arms. "No, this can't be," he whimpered. "Please, don't leave. I need you mommy."

"How pathetic," the giant remarked, looking down at him as if he were of no threat.

Gale's mother weakly raised her hand and brought it to his cheek. "Be brave Amicus. I love you." And then her body slumped as she died.

"No," Gale said through tears. "Mommy… Please… No."

The evil being yawned in boredom. "Ok kid, you've had long enough already. She's said her last words, and now you've said yours." Crackling black energy started to gather in the palm of his hand again. "Buh bye." He released a large wave of energy directly towards Gale, and it exploded, kicking up a cloud of dust which prevented Raven from seeing anything. But when it cleared, the winged boy was still kneeling next to his mother, surrounded by a hardened dome of air. "NO! IMPOSSIBLE!"

Gale gently let go of his mother's head and dispersed the barrier so he could stand up. Sadness had been replaced by anger. Raven could sense cold rage emanating from him on an incredible scale as he stared directly at the giant, who stepped back with unease. "You will pay for this."

He then conjured a wave of air which caught the evil being full face and swept him off his feet like a rag doll. This was followed by a gust of wind from the opposite direction that sent him forward again, only to have the air underneath explode and hurl him upward. His flight was short lived, as another wave of air slammed him down hard into the pavement.

The giant managed to get up, and was swiftly struck by razor sharp gusts of wind which left a series of gashes all over his body. Twin blades of air then flew straight towards him and left a pair of deep cuts just below the ribs on either side. He attempted to retaliate with an energy covered fist, but Gale simply willed the air to converge around his arm, stopping him short. He ordered a lightning bolt of energy to strike down, but it hit a wall of air instead, which then split and became two spikes that impaled both his hands. His ankles were restrained as a beam of wind pounded him on the nose and caused him to fall back.

"Please, no more!" the giant begged. "Show some mercy!"

"Mercy, you want mercy?" Gale commanded air to slam into his adversary's stomach, like a strong punch to the gut. "YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT!" A tornado came into existence around the giant, picking him up off his feet and blowing hard, though Gale's voice could still be heard. "YOU SHOWED HER NO MERCY, AND I WILL RESPOND IN KIND! PEREO, CREATURA OF MALUM!" The tornado rose from the ground, lifting him higher and higher, until he seemed scarcely more than a speck in the distance. And then, it reversed its flow and carried him back down, slamming him in the ground with such ferocity that the impact resonated outward. Gale walked over to the spot the giant had crashed.

He looked down and saw his enemy lying at the bottom of a crater that had been formed by the landing. His usual dark aura was dimmed, which made it easier to see the cuts and bruises outlining his battered and broken body. Black energy flared around the giant, consuming him and leaving nothing behind. Raven looked at the little boy in surprise as the image before her faded away.

* * *

The female Titan found herself in the mountaintop cave like before, though it was now barren, apart from the windows, through which one could see a clear sky. But most noticeable, was Gale appearing before her in his uniform. They both stared at each other, neither saying a word. "Are you alright?"

Gale blinked, not having expected her question. "Umm, yeah, I'm fine."

"There was a chemical reagent in Slade's mask. It went into your central nervous system and convinced you there was someone there who wasn't. The more you fought him, the more it caused you harm."

The winged teenager sighed. "I guess I should start explaining the memories you've seen."

"Wait until I'm out and you've woken up. Then come see me to talk."

"Okay." That said, Raven disappeared from his mind.

* * *

The other Titans were loafing around just outside the infirmary, still waiting for the end results. Beast Boy took a kleenex from a box and blew his nose. Their attention focused on Raven when she came out. "Did it work?" Cyborg asked.

"Please tell us, is friend Gale alright?" Starfire said in a hopeful tone.

"He's fine. You can go check on him."

They did just that and walked in to see their winged friend groggily sitting up in the hospital bed. "Hey Gale!" Beast Boy greeted him.

"You feeling okay?" Cyborg asked.

"Well enough. Sorry about how I was with you guys."

"We're glad to see you're back to normal," Robin said. "But could you just explain a little about this bad guy you were seeing?"

"Seven years ago, there was an experiment in Wayne Enterprise being made on some guy. Apparently, something went wrong with it. He gained the ability to use dark energy in different forms, kind of the same way Starfire does, and could also sense metahumans. So, upon breaking out, he rampaged through the city until reaching me. I was too slow and a civilian died." Gale managed to keep his voice controlled, even as he said the last part.

"What happened to the guy?" Robin inquired.

"We fought, but his powers ended up frying him."

"I am sorry," Starfire said with a sincere expression.

"You don't need to beat yourself up over this," Beast Boy added. "I mean, you've done a lot of stuff when you were with us and by yourself."

"Including when you took down that giant monster of Slade's and all those robots," Cyborg reminded him.

Gale gave them a shallow smile in return. "Thanks."

* * *

After running a scan to ensure that the reagent was out of Gale's system, he was declared clean. The Titans then walked out of the infirmary and headed towards their rooms. However, Gale walked up to Raven's door instead. He knocked and stood there by himself. A brief moment later, and she opened her door a crack. "Come in," she said, then let him enter.

The walls of Raven's room were dark and lined with bookshelves containing many, many books. Additional shelves had little statuettes, candles and other miscellaneous items. "You should sit," Gale suggested. "This might take a while." Raven walked over to her bed, which was backed against the far wall and sat down on the edge. She motioned for him to sit down next to her, which he did. "Well, to start, my name isn't really Gale."

"Your memories showed as much," she said dryly.

"Of course. My real name is Amicus Rhodes. My mother was Kelly Rhodes and my father… well, I never exactly knew who, or what he was. Whatever's the case with him, I was born in Jump City on the 24th of May, exactly 16 years ago. When I was two, my mother married a guy named Rick White and my half sister, Katherine, was born not too long afterwards. You know the scientist I saved at the Wayne Enterprise building?"

"That was him?"

"Yeah, he's my stepfather, not that he ever gave a dam about me, something which he passed on to Katherine. Anyway, like a lot of normal children, I started school when I was five years old. I kept my wings folded inside my shirt and almost always wore a coat over top of that. My powers hadn't manifested themselves much, so it was easy to keep them under control, plus my mother told the people there that I had some sort of disease to explain my skin, ears and eyes. And despite the fact that my name means friend, I didn't have any. I was often alone, didn't socialize much, was picked on by others… the usual kind of loner situation."

"I hear you," Raven said, knowing what he meant.

"Life went on without anything really major, until one day when I was eight." Gale frowned as the memory came to him. "I stayed a little later to finish a project for art class. And, well… Johnny Rancid and his stooges came after me in the hallway. Like you know, I tried to run, made it outside, tripped and they started to hit me. They ripped off my coat and t-shirt and saw these." He extended his wings to give point. "Then they went to beat me up even further and…"

"What happened then?" she asked in a gentle tone of voice.

"I panicked. I got so scared… my powers just went off by themselves. And without really understanding how, I… I pulled the air from their lungs until they passed out." Raven remained silent as her friend breathed in a few times before continuing. "After that, I ran back home to my mother and told her what had happened. She held me in her arms, listened as I talked, and told me everything was alright." Gale had a wistful tone as he spoke the last part. "I stayed at home the next day, which was actually the birthday when I turned nine. That's the one you saw."

"Uh huh," Raven nodded absentmindedly at this.

"We went out to the park two days later. At that time, my stepfather was working on an experiment, something to do with being able to detect metahumans. They were testing it out when it went wrong. The guy they were trying it on gained the ability to detect metahumans, yes, but he also became a giant capable of using dark energy in rather destructive ways. He broke out of whatever lab he was in and because of my powers, he came straight for me. My mother grabbed me and tried to run… but we didn't stand a chance."

A single teardrop fell onto his cheek, something which Raven noticed. "You don't need to continue."

"He wanted to eliminate me," Gale went on regardless. "but… she got in the way… she saved me… and was struck down in my place. He killed her, took away the only person who ever cared for me, and I couldn't do a thing."

"You were nine years old."

"I had the powers within me," he spoke in a depressed tone. "I could've stopped him if I'd just been able to manifest them sooner." Silence hung in between them for a moment longer. "When he tried to finish me off again… I snapped… got angry, and my powers came up. I wanted to make him pay so badly for what he'd done. After that, his own powers burned him. I ran away… and, well… you know the rest."

Now finished telling his story, Gale broke into a flow of silent tears. Raven did not remain impassive in front of such an emotional display. Instead, she reached out for her friend and wrapped her arms around him. "It's okay now," she muttered into his ear. "It's okay."

They remained like this, Raven comforting Gale until he was finished crying in her shoulder. "Thank you Raven. I've never really been able to open up to anyone after losing my mother. You've done a great deal for me, and I can't thank you enough."

"I'm just glad that you're alright again," she said with a warm smile on her face.

"I think I'll go get some rest now. Thanks again." With that, Gale stood up and walked back to his own room, feeling much better with the burden of his past now gone.

* * *

There it is! Liked I said, massive! Anyway, please review if you don't mind and tell me what you thought about it!

**Me: Satisfied?**

**Gale: Yeah, good job. You kept your word for that part.**

**Raven: Question here.**

**Me: Yes?**

**Raven: Is there going to be any more 'moments' between me and Gale?**

**Me: Definitely! But I'm not telling you what's happening.**

**Gale: Why not?**

**Me: Because, I don't want to spill any juicy details until it actually happens.**

**Raven: Juicy?**

**Me: Ummmm...**

**(Raven and Gale stand still, expecting an answer)**

**Me: Bye now! (opens up a zipper in mid air, jumps through and then it disappears)  
**


	13. Spellbound

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, nor will I ever.

So, after TOO LONG, here it is.

**

* * *

**

**Spellbound**

Wisps of cloud hovered in a gloomy sky, obscuring a dim moon. Below, was a dark and forbidding castle, standing in the middle of a small inland in the midst of a creepy sea. Inside one of its great halls, flames danced, casting eerie shadows against the wall. Inside the ring of fire, stood a man with long whitish hair, dressed in black and outfitted in light silvery gray armor. A black cape fluttered behind him, while a scarf hid everything below his piercing blue eyes. Opposite him, was an imposing black dragon, with a dark purple underbelly and gleaming red eyes. At least, that was the mental image that Raven made up as she was reading a thick white book in her room.

The book in question spoke of a wizard named Malchior, who at the point where Raven had reached, was standing against the terrible dragon Rorek. As she continued reading, Raven 'saw' the dragon hurl a stream of flames at its foe, who conjured a shield of white energy to defend himself, and retaliated with a ball of power that struck the dragon head on. The dragon spat out more fire, which Malchior dodged and then hit him with a blast of energy, at which Rorek folded one wing over himself to lessen the impact, and lashed out with his tail and smacked the wizard.

Getting to his feet, he cast a spell which collapsed all the ground except for a risen path where he was stood, causing the dragon to fall below. "And so it came to pass that I, Malchior of Null, did lay siege to the dread dragon Rorek," Raven read. The book then described the dragon rising once again and ensnaring Malchior in its tail. "But it did seem the power of Rorek was greater than my magic's could defeat. And as the fell beast struck-" The Titan's sorceress was interrupted from her reading by the telltale sound of the alarm going off.

"Hey, Raven!" Beast Boy's voice called out. "Put the pedal to the metal! We gotta go!" Though annoyed at being disturbed, she still closed her book, set it down on her bed and went to join the other Titans.

* * *

Away from Titan's Tower, in a park complete with a playground, a bunch of children were having fun. Kids were in the monkey bars, swings, at a sandbox, on other play sets, or just running around. A small red and white box with a heart and a crank on the side came out from the bushes, prompting some of the youngsters closest to come look at it. The crank turned around by itself for a moment, until a pink stuffed rabbit sprung out. "Hey, look at that bunny," a small black haired boy said.

But, to their surprise, the whole thing then disappeared, and something that looked like a giant heart with long, metal tentacles rose from the bushes. Seeing it, the kids ran away in panic, but it simply extended one of its tentacles and a young brunette boy found himself being pulled towards it by a vacuum. He fell to the ground and tried to dig in his hands, yet was still being pulled. Fortunately for him, a trio of birdarangs sliced the offending limb, followed by Gale diving in and grabbing the boy, and then Cyborg hitting the monstrosity with a blast from his sonic cannon. "Come on, get out of here," the winged Titan said to the boy, who was all too eager to comply.

"Cardiac," Robin said to the heart shaped thing. "You're under arrest." The monster, apparently named Cardiac, got up from the ground and sucked up the pieces of its limb, which then reattached themselves. Following this, it flew upward and extended its tentacles towards its foes. "Titans, go!" the leader said as they dispersed to avoid the attack. "Starfire, launch." The alien girl grabbed Robin's foot and swung him around, propelling him towards their enemy. When he got close, he swung his staff against Cardiac's top, the added momentum slamming it into the ground.

Robin's eyes widened in surprise as the monster caught him with two limbs and catapulted him into Starfire. "T-Rex take down!" Cyborg called out, at which Beast Boy turned into that specific dinosaur, with the cybernetic teenager standing on his head, sonic cannon aimed at Cardiac. As they charged forward, the heart shaped thing ensnared them in its tentacles and hurled them into the ground a distance away.

Hovering in the air, Raven used her powers to pick up a half dozen lamp posts and threw them at the monster, who smashed through these with its limbs. The young sorceress changed into a raven of black energy which flew away to avoid getting struck. "Hey, ugly!" Gale's voice resounded from behind the Titan's enemy. It turned around in time to see, in whatever manner it was capable of sight, the winged boy flying with a large transparent hammer in his hands, before he smashed the weapon into its body.

Cardiac crashed into the ground and slid a short distance, but used its tentacles to propel itself into the air again. The monstrosity then grabbed a set of monkey bars as well as a slide, and threw them both at Gale, who transformed his hammer into a gust of wind which pushed those objects off to the side, away from himself and anyone else. Immediately after, Cardiac came charging at Gale, at which he materialized a platform of air over his head, flipped upside down and kicked off, avoiding Cardiac's body slam.

Starfire and Cyborg then came charging in, the alien girl with a starbolt in each hand. But the persistent villain whipped his tentacles, catching Starfire in the side and slamming Cyborg in the ground hard enough so that he made a miniature crater. Robin took his chance and ran towards their enemy, smacking away a limb that lashed out at him, jumping over another that swept across the ground, but finally getting blown away by a reverse vacuum. Following that, Beast Boy soon found himself trapped in the mouth of one of the tentacles, struggling to avoid being pulled in, until Gale took note of this and used his powers to stop the air from sucking in his friend. In response, Cardiac flung the changeling so that he collided with his winged teammate.

Raven then flew towards the villain, but was met with an uppercut and fell to the ground. Seeing a shadow over herself, she leapt out of the way and back into the air in time to avoid a tentacle which slammed into the spot she'd previously been in. "This has gone on long enough," she declared, at which her eyes glowed white. "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Two beams of black telekinetic energy shot out from her hands and enveloped Cardiac. The young sorceress split her hands apart, resulting in the trapped monster shaking uncontrollably, until it exploded and fell into pieces.

"Dude!" Beast Boy said as the other Titans observed the wreckage. "Way to take him apart."

"Can we go now?" Raven asked, already sitting in the T-Car with her seat belt buckled.

"Uh, sure," Robin said, finding her behavior to be a bit strange.

"I shall be going on a trip to the mall of shopping," Starfire declared. "You need not wait for me, friends."

"Don't wait for me either," Gale spoke up. "I'll be heading off to the mall too."

"Okay then. We'll see you both later," Robin said. He, Cyborg and Beast Boy then piled into the T-Car and drove off towards Titan's Tower, while Starfire and Gale took to the air and flew in the direction of the mall.

* * *

After arriving at the Jump City Mall, Starfire and Gale landed in front of the main entrance and simply walked in through the doors, like all the other people. "Friend Gale," Starfire spoke up in her usual overly friendly voice. "I wish to know, is this your first experience being in the mall of shopping?"

"Yeah, it is," he answered. "Before I met you guys, I had a habit where I generally didn't go to places with a lot of people. That way it diminished the chances that someone would see what I really look like." As they walked, the winged teenager looked at the shop owners and other customers around them. More than one of them was looking in their direction, and quite a few glances were aimed at him specifically, though most seemed to show wonder or sense of respect.

"But now there is no longer any reason for you to hide your true appearance," Starfire said. "People who look at you see a Teen Titan and defender of their city." Gale smiled a little at Starfire's abounding energy and cheerfulness. "Oh, and at the moment that I am thinking of it, may I inquire as to the reason for which you chose to accompany me here?"

"Well, I wanted to do a bit of painting, so I figured I should come over here and pick up all the stuff I need."

"That it most interesting and I am eager to see what works of art you will create." The alien girl then happened to see a hair salon and decided that that was the first place she wanted to stop. "I will be going here to experiment the different ways that humans work with hair."

"Sure, go right ahead," Gale said. "I'll meet you at the front door in about… half an hour?"

"That should me a convenient amount of time. I shall see you later, friend," she answered with a wide smile and then left Gale who went his own way.

The winged boy walked about by himself for a bit, looking for a place where he could find the things he needed for painting. After wandering for a short while, he happened to find a decent sized store that needed but a glance to know it sold various materials for arts and crafts. Seeing this, Gale headed over there and walked in. He went about through the store, picking up different sized paintbrushes, paint bottles of all sorts of color, a tray to put the paints on, and also paper. To carry his items, he simply placed them into a transparent basket which floated in mid air and moved at his will. After deciding that he'd gotten everything necessary, Gale walked to cash register in order to pay. He set the items down on the counter and cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the red headed woman who was at the register.

When she saw his face she stared, apparently surprised by his appearance. "Hi," he said in a blank voice.

"Oh, umm… aren't you that new Teen Titan? What's the name… Gale?"

"Yeah," he answered simply.

"Okay," the woman said, then proceeded to scan and bag the items before her. That done, Gale paid for his purchase, picked up his stuff and walked back out. Making his way back through the crowd, Gale noticed that he still had some time before he was supposed to meet up with Starfire, so he decided to check out a few other places just to have a look around.

A small stand in once place which was selling flowers of many different sorts caught his attention. "Hey duuuude," a young hippie boy greeted, apparently very much at ease with his appearance. "Looking for something?"

Gale was about to answer when his ears picked up on a faint cry for help. "One moment," he said to the hippie, then turned around and scanned the crowd with his eagle like eyes until he spotted a man running with a purse that must not have belonged to him, judging by the frantic woman chasing after him. He waited for a moment, until the crook was about to pass in front of him, then with a flick of his powers, a wall of air suddenly appeared in front of the thief, who ran straight into it, leaving him dazed and confused. The wall then dispersed and a light breeze was all it took to make the crook fall down, unconscious.

Seeing the purse's owner coming over, Gale turned around towards the flower stand. "Duuude," the young boy said. "Did you do that?"

"Yeah."

"That was some totally wicked stuff, man. Soooo… you looking for something?"

"I'm not sure."

"Hmm… how about…?" The boy ducked beneath the counter and came back up with a big, perfectly immaculate black rose. "This? And you know what? If you put a bit of water on it, something really psychedelic happens." He grabbed a nearby water bottle and dribbled a few drops of water. Gale watched with interest for a minute or so, until the rose returned to its normal state.

"Nice."

"Here, keep it."

"You sure?"

"Totally."

"Thanks." The hippie wrapped the rose in paper and enclosed it into a plastic case. Gale picked it up, along with the rest of his stuff, and started walking back towards the front of the mall, where he found Starfire waiting for him while carrying a pair of shopping bags in her hands. Instead of falling down her back, the alien girl's hair was now piled on top of her head in a tower with curls and barrettes. "Nice hairdo."

"Thank you," Starfire replied with a beaming smile. "Shall we return to our home now?"

"Sure." The two Titans then walked outside and flew off towards Titans' Tower.

* * *

Sometime later, Raven found herself in her room once again. As she stepped inside, she sat on her bed, picked up the book set aside, and found the spot she'd been reading from. "But it did seem the power of Rorek was greater than my magic's could defeat." In her mind, Raven 'saw' the dragon rear its head back and spit out flames. "And as the fell beast struck-" Once again, Raven's reading was interrupted, this time by the sound of someone knocking at her door.

Annoyed, she set down the book, walked to the door and opened it, seeing Robin who stood in front of her room. "Hey," he greeted her. "When we got home, you kind of… ran to your room and locked the door. Anything you wanna talk about?"

"No," she answered simply, then closed the door and went back to her book, opening it to the same page.

"-greater than my magic's could defeat. And as the fell beast struck, I-" Again, Raven's mental image was shattered by someone knocking at the door. She walked over and opened it enough to see Starfire, with her new hairstyle.

"While I have journeyed to the mall of shopping, I have discovered the joy of earthly hair ornaments. Do you wish to-?"

"No," Raven said curtly, then turned back into her room again, leaving a disappointed Starfire behind. For the third time, she turned to the same scene and attempted to continue reading.

"And as the fell beast struck, I summoned the forces of my enchanted book._ 'Algeron, Enlanthrenalfom, Sololarisnol!'_ And with a curse more ancient than foul Rorek himself, I-"

"Yo Raven!" Cyborg's voice came into her room at the same time as he was knocking at her door.

"Open up!" Beast Boy added.

Brimming with anger, Raven stomped over to her door and opened it wide, surprising the two male titans. "What?"

"We're here tonight with an exclusive offer," Beast Boy spoke up.

"A once in a lifetime chance to get in on America's fastest growing sport sensation…"

"The hot new game we just made up…"

"Stankball!" they both said, as Cyborg held out a ball of what appeared to mostly be dirty, smelly old socks, held together by uncertain means.

"Wanna be referee?" Beast Boy asked, holding out a cloak with black and white stripes.

Raven stood still for a moment, anger still visible on her face. "Go… away."

She turned back into her room, the door closing behind her, but her two teammates put themselves in its way. "But pleeeease?" Beast Boy begged.

"Everybody loves a good game of stankball," Cyborg said.

"And we need a referee to play it a lightning round."

"No!" Raven then zapped them both with a sliver of her powers, forcing them out of her doorway and allowing it to close fully.

"Raven, come on!" the green Titan complained. "Why can't you just have fun like normal people? Why are you always locked in your dark room, reading your nasty old books? Why do you have to be so creepy?"

"Forget it B. Leave her alone."

"I'm not creepy, I'm just different," Raven muttered to herself, a saddened expression on her face. She sat down on the edge of her bed and hugged her book. "And I wish there were someone who understood that. Someone I could talk to. Someone… like me."

"There is," a voice spoke up, seemingly coming from the book, causing her to drop it on the floor in surprise. "Oww."

"Uhh, did you just…"

"Speak?"

"Uh huh."

"I did. And then you dropped me on my spine."

"Oh, sorry. I'm not quite used to hearing books talk."

"True, fair maiden. But I am no book." It opened up by itself and started flipping through the pages until it came upon one in particular, where it showed the upper half of a man's face. "I am a man. "Malchior of Null, at your service."

"The wizard who faced the dread dragon Rorek?" Raven asked, surprised to hear who he was.

"The wizard who defeated Rorek," he specified. "And who was trapped within these pages by the dragon's final curse."

"Trapped? But that battle was almost…"

"One thousand years ago. And I've been waiting for someone to find me ever since. Raven, I've been waiting for you." The pages turned until arriving at one that showed Raven with her eyes closed and a serene expression on her face.

The sorceress in question blushed a little upon seeing this. She then tried using her powers on the book, but a flash of light exploded from it in response. "The curse is strong. I'm sorry," she said with a disappointed expression on her face. "I don't think my power can break it."

The book returned to the page with Malchior's face. "I know. But perhaps we could just… talk?"

* * *

At the moment, Gale was sitting on a chair in the main room, with a small table beside him that was carrying some of the different paint bottles. A tripod was standing in front of him, holding the pad of paper he'd bought at the mall. The Titan in question had the paint tray in one hand, a brush in another, and was doing a picture of Robin running forward, combat staff poised to strike. As he placed the finishing touches on the boots, he happened to hear the doors opening and turned around to see Robin and Starfire walking in.

"What're you painting?" the team leader inquired.

"You," he answered simply, moving aside so that they could both see what he'd done.

"It is well done, with much detail," Starfire said.

"Looks good," Robin added.

Gale smirked a little at this. "Of course you'd think so. Just give it a moment to dry off, then you can keep it."

The doors opened up again, and this time Beast Boy walked in. "Cool painting," he commented upon seeing Gale's work. "Can you do one of me?"

"Sure. I was planning to do one for each of you anyway." Cyborg suddenly got up from behind the couch and threw the odd ball of socks at Beast Boy's head, making contact.

"Booyah!"

Back in Raven's room, the sorceress was sitting on the edge of her bed, while the white book was propped on a pedestal, open at the page showing Malchior's face. "Stankball?" he asked. "You're joking."

"They wanted me to referee."

"Smashing," he said with obvious sarcasm. "You must be the luckiest girl in the world. And this Beast Boy sounds like an absolute genius."

Raven laughed a little at this. "That's funny. You're funny."

"And you're the best thing that's happened to me in a thousand years."

"Then… you don't think I'm… creepy?"

"Certainly not! You may be dark, and darkness is often misunderstood, but I feel like I understand you."

"I feel that way too," Raven said with a yawn.

"It's late. You should get some rest."

"Do you promise you'll still be here when I wake up?"

In response, a page split into a bunch of strands which wove themselves into a paper rose. "I promise." Raven then picked up the book closed it around the rose and lay back down on her bed, smiling as she fell asleep.

* * *

The following day, as the sun was shining high and brightly in the sky, Beast Boy made his way towards Raven's room and knocked on the door. "Raven," he called out. "Umm, it's almost noon and you haven't come out of your room. So, just in case you're mad, I'm gonna go ahead and say… sorry I called you creepy last night." Silence greeted his apology. "Raven?" He then held his ear close to the door.

"Perhaps if we're quiet, he'll just go away," Malchior's voice whispered, at which Raven laughed a little.

"Umm, Raven? Is everything-?" Beast Boy began, but was interrupted by the door opening up and Raven standing on the other side, hood covering most of her face. "Hi. Umm… you were… laughing. And I thought I heard… Is there someone in there?"

"Just me," she replied in a deadpan voice. "And a really good book."

"Oh. Well… I just wanted to make sure you were okay. And to apologize about calling you creepy last night."

"Sure. I'm fine," she said, then closed the door and turned back into her room.

Though uncertain about her acceptance of his apology, Beast Boy was somewhat reassured nonetheless. That done, he walked away from Raven's room and happened to pass by his winged teammate in the hallway. "Hey Gale," he greeted him.

"Hey," was the simple reply.

"What's that you got under your arm?" he asked, pointing to a rolled up sheet of paper Gale was carrying.

"A painting."

"That's cool. So… you wanna play a game of Stankball?"

"Maybe later." The two titans then went their own ways, Gale going towards Raven's room. When he arrived in front of her door, he knocked and stood there waiting, until the young sorceress opened up. "Hi Raven," he greeted.

"What is it?"

Gale raised an eyebrow at this, but refrained from commenting on how happy she sounded. "Just checking to make sure you're alright."

"Never been better."

"Sure," he said, though not without a touch of uncertainty. "By the way, I also wanted to give you this." He then took the paper out from under his arm and unfurled it in front of Raven. It showed the young sorceress hovering in mid air, black telekinetic energy covering her hands, with her cloak spread out behind to make it seem almost like wings. Her hood was down, showing a beautiful, yet still determined face, done with much attention to even the smallest details. In addition, Raven's soul form was floating behind her, drawn in a manner to make it seem majestic, but not frightening.

Raven pulled back her hood and took the painting in her hands to get a better look at this. "Did you do this?" she asked, her voice betraying the fact that she was impressed.

"Uh huh, just today."

"Wow. It looks… nice. Thanks."

Gale smiled a little at seeing Raven's expression. "You're welcome. And Raven…" She lowered the painting to look in his face. "Umm… If you need someone to talk to… well… I'm all ears." He wiggled his ears a little for emphasis.

"I'm sure you are," Raven said, regaining her usual expression and tone of voice, before turning back into her room. "Sorry about the interruptions, Malchior," she muttered.

Gale frowned in confusion, his sharp hearing having easily picked up in her words. "Malchior? That's strange. Wonder who it is."

* * *

Shortly afterwards, Raven found herself sitting on the floor of her room, a ring of candles around her, Malchior's book open on the pedestal in front of her, and an assortment of containers with magical ingredients sitting around her. She dropped a handful of small, pink petals into a large goblet filled with a grayish powder, causing it to sparkle for a second, until it produced a small explosion and shrunk in size. She then grabbed a vial and poured some of its contents into the goblet, dropped a few glasslike shards, and picked up a container with white powder and emptied it over the rest. "I've never even heard of this spell. Where did you learn it?" she asked Malchior.

"It's in the Galleon Scrolls," he answered.

"You've read the Galleon Scrolls?"

"And the Mornal Archives and the Stones of Cyrr. I've been trapped in a book. Not much to do but read."

"I think it's almost ready," Raven said as she set aside the last container.

"Good. There's just one more ingredient." A page from the book lashed out and cut off an inch from a few strands of Raven's hair, which fell onto the amalgamation of ingredients. "A lock of hair, from a beautiful girl."

Raven's eyes widened a little in surprise upon hearing this. "Beautiful?"

"I truly appreciate all that you're doing for me."

"I may not know how to break the curse, but at least I can get you out of that book." She grabbed the goblet and poured some of its contents into the palm of her hand, then blew it towards the book. It swirled around the magical book, whose pages began to fly in a circle, until joining together to form a manly figure, except that its face was bare apart from a pair of eyes.

"Thank you," Malchior spoke through his new form.

"You're welcome."

The paper wizard took a few steps away from the book and towards Raven, but stopped when his left hand came apart. "Silly me," he said. "Of course… I remain bound to the book." He then moved towards it again, at which his hand reformed.

"Because the curse is still in effect," Raven guessed.

"Indeed. If I am ever to be truly free, well… it would require magic of much greater power."

"Then teach me the spells. I want to help you. I want to learn."

"To break this curse, it will take more than a few simple spells. I must teach you everything I know." He then raised a hand glowing with bright white energy, which surrounded the room for a brief moment. When Raven opened up her eyes, she could see a multitude of books stacked around her room. "The Book of Nord," Malchior spoke up. "The Endriel Verses, the Romanomika, the Bersian Chronicles. More than 6000 pages of spells, charms and incantations."

"That's a lot of reading."

* * *

As the days went by, Raven spent practically all of her time concealed within her room. She dove into the large selection of magical books, voraciously reading the tomes which Malchior put before her. Along with reading, there was also times when she would train herself in using the magic learned from those books, though there was an incident where Malchior's head had briefly caught fire, before Raven hurriedly put it out. And there were also moments when the two would simply talk.

"Tell me, what is Gale like?" Malchior inquired at one point.

"He's nice enough, usually quiet and doesn't talk too much. He made that portrait of me," Raven said, pointing to the painting hanging on her wall. "He also has sharp hearing and sight, as well as control over air. And he can understand and speak Latin really well, like it's ingrained in him."

"An elemental who also happens to speak Latin. Interesting…"

* * *

After some time of reading, listening to her teacher and practicing, Raven finally managed to perfect her abilities with the spells from Malchior's books.

* * *

In the evening, a week since the fight against Cardiac, five of the Titans found themselves in the main room. Robin and Starfire were simply leaning on the counter in the kitchen area and chatting with each other, while Cyborg and Beast Boy had somehow managed to convince Gale to sit on the couch with them and play a racing video game. At one point, the winged boy heard the door opening behind them and turned his head to look. Seeing this, Beast Boy and Cyborg diverted their attention away from the television screen and stared, surprised by the sight as much as Robin and Starfire were.

Raven had entered into the main room, wearing her usual garb with the hood down. Most surprising was that her clothes were completely white, in addition to the fact that she was sporting an openly happy expression on her face. She floated from the door over to the refrigerator, humming cheerfully to herself as her friends watched. She picked an apple out of the fridge and chewed on it as the others made their way close to her. "Umm… Hey, Raven," Robin spoke up. "Haven't seen you around much lately."

"Yeah," Beast Boy said, while sitting on the counter. "Cause she hasn't left her room for a week."

Cyborg put a hand on the back of the green boy's head and pushed down. "I uhh… like your new look," he commented with a smile.

"Thanks."

"So… when do we get to meet this friend of yours, Malchior?" Gale asked.

"Soon."

Starfire then jumped in front of Raven, excitement painfully obvious on her face. "I am unable to wait! Beast Boy has told us much about the Malchior, and how he remains trapped within a book."

"Now how would Beast Boy know something like that?" Raven inquired, looking at the green Titan, who recoiled slightly under her gaze.

Beast Boy gave a nervous laugh before answering. "I may have, kinda… been a… fly on the wall in your room." He then changed into a green fly and buzzed a little next to Cyborg.

"Funny," Raven said. "You look more like a rat to me." She stared at the changeling, who promptly turned into a rat. And, not being able to fly, he fell flat on the floor.

"You morphed me!" he said upon regaining his usual form. "How did you do that?"

"Magic," she answered.

Robin turned around and rushed to the nearby terminal computer when it started to beep. His fingers rapidly flickered across the keyboard's touches for a few seconds. "Titans, move," he said, at which the boys and Starfire made their way towards the door.

Gale stopped in his tracks as he saw that Raven wasn't moving. "Don't mean to be rude, but we gotta go. And now."

* * *

Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Gale and Beast Boy were now moving across a small street, empty at this time of night. The leader was riding on the R-Cycle, Starfire flew next to him while carrying Cyborg, Beast Boy had changed into a bat and Gale was flying alongside them. They stopped in front of a house that looked like any of the others nearby, except for the gaping hole in the wall.

Starfire dropped Cyborg, whose right arm changed into his sonic cannon, while a pair of starbolts appeared around both her hands. Robin jumped from the R-Cycle, pulled off his helmet and drew a trio of explosive disks from his belt. Gale and Beast Boy, still as a bat, simply hovered in mid air, flapping their wings to stay above ground. Cardiac then came out from the hole, along with a little girl in pajamas who was trapped inside him.

"Oh, man," Cyborg moaned upon seeing this.

"Hand to hand," Robin ordered. "We don't want to hurt her."

The reformed monster lashed out at the Titans with its tentacles, but only stuck pavement, as they had quickly moved out of the way. Beast Boy landed on Cardiac's main body and took his usual form to speak with the girl. "Don't worry," he reassured her. "We'll get you-" The girl suddenly screamed, at which Beast Boy turned around and saw one of Cardiac's tentacles behind him. It tried to suck him in, but he had the sense to change into a hippopotamus, making him too big for the hollow limb. Unable to pull in its victim, the monster slammed him onto the ground.

The Titans stood together, facing their opponent, when a black portal appeared in mid air between them, and Raven came out from it. "This time when a break you, stay broken." Black telekinetic energy covered her hands as she chanted. "_Nekronum, Hezberek, Mortix!_"

"Raven, careful!" Robin warned. "The girl!"

Despite this, Raven's spell was uninterrupted, as a stream of black energy poured from her mouth, tearing across the pavement and scaring the girl who watched it creep up and surround her prison. "Raven, stop!" Beast Boy called to her.

"I… can't!" she strained to say, as more energy came out from her.

Their enemy immobilized at it was, Gale concentrated his powers and willed the air surrounding the girl to form a protective bubble. At the same time, Robin jumped onto Cardiac's body and hammered away at him with a birdarang to free the girl, while Cyborg and Starfire blasted loose strands of black energy. Raven's spell was only stopped when Beast Boy turned into a mountain goat and tackled her. Cardiac slumped to the ground and didn't move, after which Robin was able to break through. Gale then allowed the bubble to fade away and the girl jumped out into Robin's arms.

"What is wrong with you!" Beast boy demanded. In response, Raven phased through the ground and teleported away, leaving her fellow Titans intrigued.

* * *

Back at Titan's Tower, the door to Raven's room opened, and the young sorceress in question flew in and stood in front of the paper wizard. "It's dark magic," she said angrily. "You've been teaching me dark magic."

"Is it dark?" he asked, apparently undisturbed by her anger. "Or is it simply misunderstood? Like you. True… the spells I've taught you are very powerful, and there are those who fear power, so they call it dark. But for people like us, such distinctions do not exist. Without these spells, we can never truly be together. Enchanted pages or no, I'm still trapped within this book. And you're still alone." He turned to look directly at her. "Is that what you want, Raven? To be alone?"

"No," she answered, her eyes moist, a few tears falling to her cheeks.

"My sweet Raven… It's time."

* * *

After arriving back at their house, the other Titans chose to shy away from barging into Raven's room and demanding answers. Gale went into his room and walked over to a bookshelf sitting against the wall next to his bed. Lying closed on top, was the simple black cover book he'd picked up before the incident with Punk Rocket. "Malchior…" he muttered to himself. "Let's see if there's anything about you in here." He then sat down on the edge of his bed, flipping through the pages, until he picked a random one and started to read.

"_Much time has passed since Mother Earth last spoke to any of us. As of late, there have been many sightings of dragons by the people. My sister told me of her encounter with one of reasonable power. Apparently they fought for some time, until she uprooted a small mountain and crushed the dragon underneath._"

"_Recently, I happened upon a man with much talent and skill in the magical arts. He is honorable, respectful and wise for his age. Through conversing with one another, I discovered that he was hunting for a powerful dragon that my siblings were familiar with._"

"_Armed with magic, determination, a blessing from my brothers, sister and myself, and knowledge on how to find his prey, the wizard has departed. Despite the fact that he is journeying alone, I have faith that he will emerge victorious from his endeavor._"

"_As it happens, my faith in him was well placed. It has been a while, but news finally reached my ears that the wizard has returned. When I met him again, he spoke to me of his battle, and how he had defeated the dragon by casting an ancient curse, sealing it within an enchanted book._"

Gale frowned as he read the last paragraph. "This isn't right. If the dragon was trapped in the book, and the wizard survived, then Malchior…" His eyes suddenly widened in realization at the same time that the tower shook a little. Dropping the book, he ran out of his room towards the source.

* * *

After confronting Malchior, Raven picked up a dozen select books, opened them all halfway and set them on the floor in a circle with the paper wizard in the middle. That done, she walked over to the pedestal with the enchanted book. "The incantation," Malchior spoke up. "Just as I taught you."

Raven took a deep breath and began to chant while making hand gestures. "Hezberek, Etmoronay, Goswenthinverbisnex. Indobreeum, Bispendrueey, Haransiccortisrex!" A bright pillar of light suddenly came into existence around the paper humanoid, blocking him from view. "Malchior?" Raven called out to him, before being thrown back by a pulse of light erupting from the book in front of her.

As she got up, she noticed a stray page on the floor and picked it up. It depicted a wizard with hands surrounded by magical energy, standing on a pillar of rock. 'Malchior', was written underneath him. Opposite, was an imposing dragon, named with 'Rorek' written above. But as she looked at it, the names switched places with each other. "You've changed it," Raven said. "Malchior wasn't the wizard, he was a… NO!" She tried to dive at the book and undo her mistake, but was pushed back again.

The pillar of light from the circle of books expanded a little and began to swirl. A wicked, three toed foot stomped out from the swirling energy, followed by the opposite one. A pair of large black wings with purple interiors came out from the side, stretching into the ceiling of Raven's room. Then a neck snaked its way out, attached to a black and purple dragon's head, malicious red eyes on its face. The dragon then opened up its great mouth and spat out a jet of fire.

Robin then came barging in, followed by the other titans, who had also felt the tremors. "Raven!" The smoke cleared to reveal the tip of a thick tail moving up a wide hole in the ceiling, and a dome of black energy, which faded away, showing the young sorceress kneeling on the floor.

"He lied to me," she said. "He lied. And I gave him what he wanted." Starfire then grabbed Robin and Cyborg by an arm each and flew upward through the hole, followed by Beast Boy who shifted into a hawk.

"Raven, are you-?" Gale spoke up.

"Please, just get out of my room." Gale then turned around and flapped his wings to join the others.

* * *

On the outside of Titans Tower, an explosion of fire and smoke resounded on the rooftop, from which the dreadful dragon Malchior emerged. It stood tall, wings expanded and head held high as it spat flames into the air, showing off its dominance to whoever might happen to see, daring anyone to come against it.

A brief moment happened before the challenge was answered. Starfire flew up out of the hole in the rooftop, holding Cyborg and Robin. The half metal teenager shot a blast at the dragon from his cannon arm, while the Boy Wonder threw an explosive disk. The Tamaranian girl threw her friends towards their enemy, who put its arms up against more sonic cannon fire. Malchior then lashed out at them with his tail, and although Robin managed to twist his body to avoid it, Cyborg was caught full face and fell onto the rooftop, hard enough to crack the surface.

As he was falling towards the dragon, Robin grabbed a telescopic staff from his belt and extended it to full length, striking Malchior's face with all the strength he could muster. But the beast shrugged off the blow and backhanded him into the side of and air vent, hard enough to dent it.

Starbolts pounded on the dragon's thick hide as fast as Starfire could generate them, while avoiding blasts of fire sent her way. Beast Boy then took a shot, flying in as an eagle and shifting to a Tyrannosaurus Rex. He lunged at the malevolent beast, hesitation a foreign concept as he fought against the enemy and clamped his mouth around its neck.

But the dragon refused to be outdone in such a manner, when it reached back with its hands and pulled the green dinosaur off of itself, slamming him onto the roof. It then tossed Beast Boy aside, causing him to slide across the rooftop and collide with Cyborg, sending both of them crashing through the concrete guard around the roof and tumbling down below.

A powerful beam of wind suddenly struck the dragon's torso, pushing it back a little. Gale then flew towards their enemy, materializing a hardened gauntlet of air around his arm and connecting with a vicious uppercut. Enraged further, Malchior tried to snatch him, but caught nothing as he rolled out of harm's way. A pair of starbolts promptly hit him in the head and chest, but in retaliation, Malchior lunged at Starfire and caught her in his mouth. Trapped in those powerful jaws, the alien girl struggled to keep them from closing around her. Starfire cried out when a point blank blast of fire catapulted her from the dragon's mouth and she crashed into Robin, who had just managed to remove himself from the air vent, only to have both of them thrown off the tower.

Seeing his friends tossed aside like this, Gale commanded the air near him to create a large, razor sharp spear. He then chose to remind the dragon of his presence by throwing his weapon at it. However, by some ill fated stroke of luck, the beast happened to twist around so that the projectile merely grazed an arm and cut into its haunch. Enraged and perhaps shocked that his hide had been pierced, Malchior cracked his tail like a whip, forcing Gale to forgo offense.

Gale continued to avoid the dragon's wild swings, until it lunged, at which he forced the air underneath him to blow up, rocketing upward in time to avoid getting hit. The evil beast spread its wings and decided to prove that it was also capable of flight. As it approached, a part of Gale's subconscious tugged at him and he simply hovered in mid air while calling on his powers in an unfamiliar way. Not sensing anything different about the situation, Malchior opened up his mouth and prepared to attack, when something unknown promptly slammed into his back.

Before he had much time to wonder about the source, he was struck again from one side, and then the other. By chance, the dragon looked up and saw Gale, as well as a giant eagle made of air, except for the fact that it seemed to have a life of its own. The giant bird screeched and dove at its prey, striking with devastating force, causing it to crash back down onto the rooftop.

Though more than a little shocked at his own actions, not to mention their magnitude, Gale lowered himself to the giant eagle's level and looked down at the dragon. Malchior was groggily holding himself up, despite having more than a few injuries, the most obvious being a gash running across his back, and a large bruise centered on his torso. "You…" the dragon spoke up in a deep, rough voice, breathing heavily. "Only one of your kind could wield power like this."

Gale frowned in confusion at those words. "What do you mean by 'one of my kind'?"

"Don't you have any idea what you are?"

"…"

"Well, if you're interested, I can tell you what you don't know about yourself."

Gale flew down and landed on the rooftop, his curiosity aroused. "And what do you know about me that I don't?"

Malchior coughed a few times, and then with surprising speed, dropped his sick act and lashed out with his tail, striking Gale in the chest before he could stop it. In addition to being quick, the blow was powerful to the point that it swept him off his feet and sent him through the door leading to the rooftop, carrying on to crash hard into the wall behind. With his concentration broken as it was, the giant eagle hovering above simply disappeared.

Malchior reared his head up and roared, as if celebrating his victory. But his attention was taken away from this when a string of black telekinetic energy struck him in the side, followed thereafter by Raven emerging onto the rooftop. "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!" she cried out, shooting black forked energy at the dragon's head, who belched forth a torrent of fire in retaliation. Raven flew away from the pursuing flames, casting a beam of black energy as she was doing so. She then turned around and pulled up a piece of masonry, which she threw at Malchior, though it merely broke into pieces upon contact.

Flying up to avoid another blast of fire, the young sorceress summoned a bolt of black lightning from the sky. The dragon cried out as the energy shocked him, but then spat out a stream of flames to counter a blast of telekinetic energy. Raven strained to push back the flames, until they died out. But to her surprise, just as her vision was clear, Malchior came up and seized her in his grip. "Oh dear," he said as she struggled, but to no avail. "You're not going to cry now, are you? I know it hurts, but you'll just have to accept that it's over. I got what I wanted, and I don't need you anymore."

"It's not over," Raven replied, eyes glowing white. "Not yet."

Malchior laughed maliciously at this. "Sweet Raven, you can't possibly hope to defeat me. I taught you everything you know."

"You taught me spells, but I just learned a curse." Raven phased out of his grip and reappeared further back, just as the enchanted white book landed in her hand.

"NOOOOOOOO!" the dragon cried out, before rearing its head back and spitting out another blast of fire.

Raven held his attack at bay as she chanted. "Algeron, Enlanthrenalfom, Sololarisnol." She then held the book out, and black tendrils pushed the flames aside and ensnared the malevolent beast. Malchior's shouted and cursed as his body dissolved into energy which was then sucked inside the book. This done, Raven floated down to the rooftop as Beast Boy flew up with Cyborg, Starfire with Robin and Gale walked out through the doorway. They all looked at each other in silence, relieved that the battle was over.

* * *

A few hours later, Raven was back in her room, securing Malchior's book within a small box with a lock on it, and then enclosing it in a chest lying in a corner. As she finished, she heard the sound of someone knocking lightly at her door. "Raven…" Gale's voice could be heard. "It's me. Look, I… I just wanted to say that… I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked. "You're not the one who…"

"No," he interrupted. "I'm sorry that… he broke your heart."

"It was all just a lie, but he was the only one who made me feel like I wasn't… creepy. And don't try to tell me I'm not."

"We all are different in our own ways." Gale sighed. "Raven… you showed me before that I had friends, people who cared for me. You helped me realize that I didn't need to be alone. Please… let me help you in return." The teenage girl then walked over to her door, which opened up, allowing her to see Gale who was standing with a black rose in one hand.

"You may come off as dark…" He took the small container of air in his other hand, held it over the rose and dispersed it, allowing the bit of water inside to dribble on the flower. Its petals absorbed the water, shivered for a second, then slowly opened up, revealing a golden colored core. "But underneath, you have a heart of gold." Raven took the offered rose and stood still for a second, before suddenly throwing her arms around him in a hug. He remained shocked for a moment, but managed to return the embrace.

"Thank you," she said.

"Uhh… you're welcome," Gale replied after they separated.

To their surprise, the winged boy was unexpectedly caught in the head by an odd ball of socks. "Woo hoo!" Cyborg cheered. "Stankball!" Raven picked it up in her free hand and turned towards the cybernetic teen, a grin on her face. "Oh no, Raven. Don't-" he protested while backing up, only to have her throw it at him with her powers and knock him over. Raven and Gale both smiled and laughed, all negative thoughts now gone.

* * *

So, as usual, I hope you liked it, and please leave me a review, however good or bad it is.


	14. I Spy Something Underwater

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans!

By the way, I was too lazy to proof read this chapter much, so there's probably some spelling mistakes. I'll take care of them if anyone points them out, or when I decide to read this over. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**I Spy… Something Underwater**

Early in the morning around Jump City, before sunrise, the moon and stars were still out, casting a dim illumination. The residents of Titans Tower were currently all asleep in their rooms. After the incident with Malchior, there had been little in the matter of criminal activity, apart from an event on the fourth of July involving Mad Mod, or as Gale described him, that crazy British idiot. He had declared himself king, stolen Robin's youth and attempted to take over the city. But the Titans had persisted until their leader was back to normal, Mod's plans were down the drain and the villain in question was thrown in jail.

At the moment, a humanoid figure was swimming in the water towards the island on which rested Titans Tower. When it got to the edge of the island, it climbed onto the rocks and brushed off a bit of debris accumulated. "Now that's weird," the individual commented, holding his right hand over his left shoulder, feeling a strange tingle in that particular area. "Don't think I've felt this before." Setting the thought about such aside, he continued walking towards the tower, going across a security laser.

Ignoring the alarm, the figure moved onward, pitting his strength against the large doors when he got to it. By the time he managed to work his way through, he found all six Teen Titans waiting. "Aqualad?" Robin spoke up when he saw him clearly, confused at his appearance.

"What're you doing here?" Beast Boy asked, sleep still lingering a little on his face.

The aquatic boy was about to answer, when he happened to take notice of Gale. Aqualad stared at the winged boy with an intrigued look, receiving a similar one in return. "Vos es Procella, verus?" he said.

"Illa est mihi, Aqua Puer," Gale replied.

All the other titans, minus Raven, had confused expressions on their faces at the exchange of words between the two elemental teenagers. "Umm, what're they talking about?" Cyborg inquired.

"It's Latin," Raven answered. "Procella means storm, or Gale. And Aqua Puer would translate into water boy."

"That's about right," Gale filled in.

"It's nice to see you again and everything," Robin spoke up. "But do you mind explaining to us what you're doing here at a time like this?"

The aquatic elemental's expression became serious again at this. "Your trash is in my ocean."

* * *

Sometime later, the Titans were all standing in the main room, early morning light streaming across the horizon. Aqualad was in front of the large television screen, which at the moment, was displaying shots of a dome shaped object, with a long tower sticking up through the middle, at the tip of which was a half sphere. "An undersea fortress fifty miles off the coast," he explained. "Built by the former headmaster of the HIVE academy, Brother Blood." He clicked on a remote and the screen changed to show an image of the villain in question. "I'm pretty sure you've already met."

"Yeah, we go way back," Cyborg said with a touch of sarcasm. "I went undercover as one of his brainwashed students. But after I destroyed his school, we kind of drifted apart."

"Uh huh. Anyway, because Blood moved out of your neighborhood, he's come into mine. I tried to take him down on my own, but he uses mental powers to jam my telepathy. And with no fish to help me…"

"You got schooled," Beast Boy inputted.

"Pretty much. However, I was able to contact an agent within the HIVE, and find out about what the fortress is hiding." He clicked the remote and the image changed into a close up shot of the previous one. "A massive sonic resonator, capable of creating a tidal wave bid enough to wipe out your whole city."

"Dude!"

"This cannot be good," Starfire commented.

"Yo! That's not just any sonic resonator, that's my sonic cannon!" Cyborg exclaimed frantically.

"When you hacked into the HIVE academy computer, they hacked into you. Blood downloaded everything in your central schematic database."

"He read my blueprints! MY PRIVATE BLUEPRINTS!"

"And he's using your technology to attack the city," Raven pointed out.

"That's gotta suck," Gale added.

"This is my mission," Cyborg said resolutely. "I'm taking Blood down with my own two hands! Alright, listen up! While I go after him, yall go-"

"Cyborg," Robin interrupted. "They're your blueprints. So you're the only one who knows how to shut down the resonator. While you're doing that, we'll capture Blood."

"No man!" the cybernetic teen protested. "Come on! This is personal! Just give me a chance."

"There's no time," Aqualad butt in. "The resonator will be fully operational by sunset."

"Okay Titans," Robin spoke up. "Here's what we need to do…"

* * *

Not too long afterwards, the Titans, minus Beast Boy, were all seated in their own different places within the T-Ship. Once they were securely strapped in, a giant claw came down from the ceiling and picked up their vehicle, dragging it through the air until it was hanging over a large hatch in the floor. The hatch opened up, and then the T-Ship was dropped with a plop into the water below. With the Boy Wonder at the principal commands, the others mostly just leaned back as he steered their ship through a tunnel under the tower and out into the sea. They were soon joined by Aqualad and Beast Boy, who had turned into a green shark and was swimming next to him.

* * *

"Seemed kind of strange how you were both talking in Latin earlier," Robin commented to Gale as the T-Ship was moving through darker waters, closing in on their destination.

"Pffff. Last I checked, 'strange' was pretty much the norm for any of us."

Silence reigned within the T-Ship following this, mostly uninterrupted. Of course, with the exception of Cyborg's unhappy mumbling about Blood stealing his blueprints, using his sonic cannon and how he wanted to pulverize him with his own two hands.

"Maybe we should pull over and ask for directions," Raven said.

"Yeah, sure," Gale replied. "Perhaps the Nautilus will come by and we'll be able to ask Captain Nemo for help."

"Who is this Captain Nemo of which you speak?" Starfire asked. "And what is 'the Nautilus'? Is it some form of vessel with directions for people travelling underwater?"

"Actually, the Nautilus is a submarine, with Nemo as its captain," Raven explained. "Except for the fact that both of them only exist in the book '20000 Leagues Under the Sea', by Jules Vernes."

"But perhaps we will not need directions," the alien girl spoke up again. "Look there." Robin, Raven, Gale and Cyborg looked in the direction that she was pointing at and saw the giant structure Aqualad had shown them earlier, intimidating with its height and size, giving off an eerie feeling.

They carried onward undisturbed, until a large gray squid emerged from a cave and latched itself on the T-Ship. Strangely enough, it had glowing red eyes, and pieces of its body were made from some of the same cybernetic technology as Cyborg. "Hey!" the half metal teenager exclaimed as he saw the slight similarities with himself. "That's my tech too! DOESN'T THIS GUY HAVE ANY IDEAS OF HIS OWN!"

"Evasive manoeuvres," Robin ordered. The squid was promptly forced to relinquish its hold when an electric current was sent into its body. Thus free from imprisonment, the Titans pulled away as fast as the T-Ship could go. They caught a glimpse of Aqualad and Beast Boy, in the form of a shark, attacking their enemy. They continued onward for a while, until a shadow loomed over them. The Boy Wonder looked up in time to see the squid, with a missing tentacle, grab their ship and squeeze. "No!"

* * *

The aquatic elemental and Beast Boy watched in horror at the spectacle before them, worsened when they saw the ship break apart. Acting quickly, Beast Boy transformed into a great whale and scooped up his friends into his mouth.

* * *

"Please tell me we're not where I think we are," Raven's voice spoke up through the darkness now surrounding the five Titans.

A light then extended from Cyborg's shoulder and illuminated their current surroundings. They were standing on a large red surface, a wall of white was on one end and a gaping hole was at the other. Globs of what appeared to be slobber was dripping down from the roof of what they could only presume to be Beast Boy's mouth. "I wish I could," Cyborg said.

"Although Beast Boy's quick thinking has saved our lives, I believe I am… grossed out," Starfire stated.

Gale made no comment for his part, likely due to the fact that he had a bubble of air around his head. Instead, he simply used his powers to spell out a message in mid air saying 'Gross is a bit of an understatement in this case.' They were suddenly shaken about and latched onto whatever surface they could to prevent themselves from slipping further down Beast Boy's throat.

"Hang on!" Robin called out.

* * *

At the same time, Beast Boy and Aqualad were being continuously pursued by the giant cybernetic squid. They both dove down deeply and pulled up, at which Aqualad turned around and went after their enemy. Swimming around and using his powers to move the water and himself, Aqualad dodged the first blows and grabbed the squid as it went by, tearing a hole in its side. He then was about to plunge his fist into the head, but was slammed by a tentacle and fell to the ocean floor.

Beast Boy swam as fast as he could in his form, managing to stay ahead of the hunter. A slight tingling in his mouth told him and his friends were still hanging on despite his sudden movements. As he was moving across the ocean floor, he saw Aqualad glance in his direction, then look up at a rock pillar and smile. Without need to communicate their plan, the water elemental moved up behind the pillar and struck it as hard as he could, while Beast Boy swam straight forward like an arrow, albeit a very large one.

Seeing their enemy close on the changeling's tail, Aqualad concentrated with his powers and willed the water to slow it down just enough so his friend could get some distance. Just as Beast Boy passed the falling rocks, they came down behind him and crushed the giant squid. The two of them looked at each other for a second, feeling relief that this particular challenge was passed, before continuing towards the villain's hideout.

* * *

After a while, Aqualad emerged from a pool area in one of the buildings' rooms. There were a few hatches on one wall, two sliding doors on both adjacent walls and some sort of aquatic vehicle in front of the other. He looked around, then got out and signalled that the coast was clear. Beast Boy came up to the surface and spat out his friends onto the floor. Gale dispersed the bubble of air around his head and shook his wings to get rid of the slobber on them. "Two words," Raven said to Beast Boy when he turned back into his usual form. "Breath mints."

"Okay," Robin spoke up. "Everybody knows their assignments."

"Beast Boy and I need to take out the force field that protects the sonic resonator," Aqualad said.

"Raven, Robin, Gale and I will attempt to capture the Brother Blood," Starfire added.

"Providing a diversion, so that Cyborg can get to the resonator core and shut it down," Robin finished.

The doors opposite them suddenly opened, through which came a slew of men in black, wearing yellow armor and insect like helmets. "Looks like we just had a change of plan," Cyborg said as they began shooting at them.

A wall of black telekinetic energy came up in front of the super powered teens, blocking off all the shots. "You have your assignment," Robin reminded him. "Move!" Though disgruntled at this, Cyborg opened up one of the hatches in the wall beside them, got in and closed it behind him. Raven then let the wall fall down, at which Aqualad and Beast Boy dived into the pool, while the rest charged the HIVE soldiers.

* * *

"Spiky haired little know it all," Cyborg mumbled unhappily to himself as he crawled through the tunnel on his hands and knees. "It's my blueprints, my bad guy and my-" He was interrupted when a section of the walls on either side of him opened up and spun around, so that he fell into a square room that seemed a little like an arena.

"Cyborg, so nice of you to drop in," Brother Blood's voice spoke up behind him. The cybernetic teenager turned around and saw a screen on the wall showing the HIVE headmaster. "Say... you remember Bumblebee, don't you?" He then took notice of a thin, dark skinned girl with black hair fashioned into two puff balls on either side of her head. She was dressed in black spandex from the waist down and a top with yellow and black stripes. On her back were a pair of wings like those of a bee, though adapted to her size, and she was holding a pair of what looked almost like metal stingers charged with electric energy. "You were my two top students. But of course, she wasn't a spy!"

Bumblebee fired off a series of electric shots at Cyborg, who ducked and weaved his way around them, then jumped off the wall and sailed over her head. When he fell back down, he stood up and they both pointed their weapons at one another. "Hey there B," Cyborg said. "Haven't seen you since-"

"Since you betrayed headmaster and ruined our school?"

"Actually, I was going to say the Sadie Hawkins dance. But yeah, that too."

"You're gonna pay for that!"

"Bumblebee!" Blood jumped in. "Less talking, more stinging."

Bumblebee then shot out a pair of electric blasts from her stingers, which Cyborg leaned to the side to avoid. He then retaliated with a shot from his cannon, but his opponent jumped in the air and fired off another series of blasts. Cyborg put up his arms to shield himself from another shock, only to have a drop kick send him into the wall behind.

He raised his head and moved to the side in time to avoid getting his in the face by another shock. Running around the room to evade more incoming attacks, Cyborg jumped onto a crate and grabbed a hook hanging from the ceiling, swinging forward and then back towards Bumblebee, only to fall flat on the floor when the wire was cut.

Bumblebee continued firing even as he was downed, but he did a jump pushup, then landed upright and continued dodging her attacks, until he retaliated by shooting out his right hand as a grapple and grabbing both her stingers and pulling them out of her hands. He tossed them aside and changed his arm into sonic cannon mode as his hand returned. Though unarmed, the dark skinned girl lifted up a crate with her feet and kicked it in his direction. And though Cyborg tore it apart with a shot from his cannon, doing so obscured his vision enough for her to jump over him and reach her stingers.

Cyborg turned around to face her, aimed his sonic cannon and fired. But to his surprise, the shot ended up blowing a hole in the wall about a foot below her, as she was now hovering in the air, his wings beating frantically, like those of a bee. "You can fly?"

"We never had a class together," she replied. "You don't know what I can do." She followed up her words by shooting relentlessly at him, though he managed to get out of the way. "For example…" She then shrunk to the point that she was merely a few inches tall. "Why do you think they call me Bumblebee?"

"Hey! Yo! Ow!" Cyborg exclaimed as she flew around while zapping him. "Come here you little…" He then attempted a grab, but she flew to the side and shocked him in the wrist. Cyborg shook his wrist and blew on it, then started running around in circles while trying to get away from his diminutive adversary who hounded his relentlessly.

At one point, after almost being brushed underneath his foot, she regained her usual size and swept his legs out from underneath him, then planted both legs in his chest and kicked him far back. He spun through the air a few times, but still managed to land straight, only to get stung by an electric blast. "Perfect!" Blood said. "Sting him to-" he began, but was interrupted when a shot from her stingers missed its target and blew up the screen.

"Okay, show's over Sparky," Bumblebee spoke up. "Blood can't see us. Drop the act."

"Say what?"

"Aqualad told you there was a double agent inside the HIVE, didn't he?"

"Yeah. And…?"

"Well, you're looking at her."

"SAY WHAT!"

"Did you think you were the only spy at HIVE academy? Puhhlease. I've been working Brother Blood for months."

"And Blood couldn't brainwash you because…?"

"There's not a man alive who can tell me what to do," Bumblebee said smugly.

"Sorry B. Not buying it." He then charged at the teenage girl, only for her to duck down and roll back, flipping him into the wall.

"Think about it, Sparky," she said while holding her stingers in front of his face. "If I wasn't on your side, you'd be spare parts by now. So, if you're done wasting time, why don't we go save your city?" She attached her stingers to her belt and held out a hand, though he refused the offer and got up by himself.

"Don't, call me Sparky," he replied, irritated at the nickname. They then both left the room to go after the resonator.

* * *

Elsewhere in the underwater building, Robin, Raven, Starfire and Gale were busy dealing with a troop of HIVE soldiers. On one end, Gale waved his hand horizontally, from which emerged a wide blade of air that slammed into three of the yellow men. Fortunately for them, the winged boy had purposefully given it no razor edge, so that instead of cutting them in half, it simply carried them into the wall where they were knocked unconscious. Fighting close to him, Raven used her powers to pick up the downed men's' weapons and throw them at another three, smacking them in the heads and knocking them out as well.

Starfire hurled a starbolt at another soldier, the energy pellet picking him up off his feet and slamming him into one of his allies. She then dodged laser fire and flew towards the one responsible, picking him up with ease and throwing him into a pile with the other two. For his part, Robin knocked down the last two men when he slammed the butt of his metal staff into the first's stomach, then turned around and swiped at another, sending him careening into the wall. "I've got a fix on Blood's location," he announced after noticing that their enemies were all down and checking on his communicator. "But we need to move fast."

"Yes," Starfire agreed. "I am hopeful we will not encounter more HIVE soldiers."

They then walked to one of the sliding door, which opened up, only to reveal more yellow armored men standing on the other side. "Whoop dee doo," Gale mumbled sarcastically.

"You just had to say something," Raven said to Starfire, before the four of them charged their newest batch of enemies.

* * *

"Why can't you just admit that you lost?" Bumblebee asked Cyborg as they were walking through the hallways.

"Because I didn't lose! If that fight was for real, you'd be beeswax."

"But you thought it was for real."

"You don't know what I thought!" Cyborg replied, fuming in anger. They then came at a three way intersection and Bumblebee stopped to think for a moment, while Cyborg pressed a few buttons on his arm.

"Follow me," they both said, picking a different path and bumping into each other.

"The resonator core is this way," Cyborg said. "I'm the one with the high tech sensors, remember?"

"I know how to move around in this place. I helped build it."

"You must be so proud."

"Hey! I was tracking down Blood before you even knew who he was! So I call the shots, got it?"

"No! Cause it's my tech, my mission, and without me, you wouldn't have a clue how to shut this thing down." Grumbling unhappily, Cyborg marched down the hall of his choosing.

"Actually," Bumblebee spoke up. "I'd just boost the wavelength in the transmission matrix, triggering a meltdown in the amplification system."

Cyborg froze in his tracks upon hearing those words. "I never told anyone about that glitch. How'd you know about it?"

"I lifted your blueprints from the HIVE mainframe," she explained as she joined him, holding up a small blue disk. "So Blood can't ever use em again."

"Gimme that!" he said, attempting to grab it.

"No way," she replied, backing out of his reach. "If you go down, I might need this stuff to complete the mission."

"Please, you don't understand. They're not just plans. They're me, everything I am. My body, my brain, my feelings…"

"Relax, I only read the sonic cannon stuff… And a few memory files about the big crush you had on Jinx."

Cyborg's eyes nearly popped in surprise and embarrassment at this. He was about to formulate some sort of reply, when the communicator built into his arm beeped. "Cyborg," the Boy Wonder's voice spoke up, laser fire resounding in the background. "We're approaching Blood's control room. Have you reached the resonator core?"

"Uhh, almost there."

"Well get moving. We don't have much time." Cyborg cut the transmission and started walking down the hall again, with Bumblebee behind him.

"So, if this is your mission, how come he's in charge?" she asked with an innocent tone. Cyborg stopped and turned around to glare angrily at her. Wordlessly, he raised a fist and smashed it into a nearby control pad, causing a security door to come down, separating the two of them. "Hey!" she shouted indignantly. "Get back here right now! Open this door!"

* * *

In the meanwhile, Aqualad and Beast Boy, as a hammerhead shark, were swimming through a tunnel as fast as they could. The principal reason for their haste, was a swarm of cybernetic piranhas chasing after them. After a bit of going straight like this, they came to a junction where their only choice was to go upward, which they did, and in a hurry. Aqualad cleared and top and jumped out like a dolphin, landing with his feet on the floor on an empty room. Beast Boy came out right after him, one of the piranhas with its pointy teeth clamped on his rear end. "OWWWWWWWWW!" he cried out as he ran in circles, waving his arms about. "OW, OW, OW, OW, OW! Get it off, get it off, get it off!"

"Hold still," the aquatic boy said. Beast Boy stopped for a moment, during which the cybernetic fish was pulled off of him.

"Ow."

"Come on," Aqualad spoke up again, pointing towards a room with sizzling electricity running in between a piece of equipment on the floor and ceiling. "We have to disable the force field so Cyborg can take out the resonator." They walked a short ways towards the room, but were stopped when a thick metal security door slammed shut in front of them, followed by another from behind, effectively trapping them in a narrow corridor.

"Uh oh," Beast Boy said. "This can't be good."

* * *

Having left the pursuing HIVE soldiers far enough behind them, Robin, Raven Starfire and Gale were nearing Brother Blood's control room. They turned a corner in one of the hallways, walked through the open doorway and suddenly found themselves at their intended destination. "Party's over!" Robin announced.

But, strangely enough, to their surprise, the entire room was empty, devoid of even a single living being apart from themselves. "Ooookay, this is weird," Raven stated.

"Where the hell did he go?" Gale wondered.

Robin's communicator beeped and he picked it up. "Robin, it's Aqualad," the teen in question said with a bit of strain in his voice. "We need your help. We've walked into a trap."

A pair of thick security doors suddenly slammed shut behind the four Titans, alerting them to their predicament. "So have we," Starfire said. Immediately after the words left her mouth, an explosion was heard from around one of the windows opposite them. They were tossed off their feet by the shockwave, after which water began to rush in through the newly made hole, flooding the room and washing over the Titans trapped inside.

* * *

Away from this, in the center of the fortress, a monolithic structure was standing by itself in an otherwise empty room. It looked just like a super sized version of Cyborg's sonic cannon, with a screen containing red numbers, indicating a countdown in progress. The only door soon fell forward, just after a blow torch finished cutting its way around the edges. Cyborg walked through the doorway and onto a walkway leading to the giant cannon, taking notice ot the countdown. "It's charging up to fire. Gotta work fast." He ran towards the resonator, but before he could touch it, he bounced off an invisible force and landed on his back. Getting back up, he moved his hand towards the giant weapon, but was met with solid resistance as a force field came to life. "Yo Robin!" he spoke into his communicator. "Beast Boy and Aqualad blew it. The force field's still up… Robin?"

"I hate to be the one to tell you this," Brother Blood's voice spoke up behind him. He turned around and saw the villain in question. "But… your friends have failed, your mission has failed, and your sonic technology will soon become my greatest achievement."

In response, Cyborg changed his arm into sonic cannon mode and armed it. "Not on my watch, it won't."

"Surf's up," the HIVE headmaster declared.

The resonator began to light up as the countdown reached zero. Cyborg dropped to his knees and clamped his hands over his ears, attempting to block out the shrill noise emitted by the weapon as it fired off a bluish beam of energy similar to his own, safe for the fact that it was quite larger. When the shrieking subsided to a lesser level, Cyborg got up and fired a shot from his cannon arm at Brother Blood, who simply leaned a little to the side, evading it with ease.

A smug expression on his face, the HIVE headmaster pulled off his white robe. Underneath, he was wearing black pants, a red shirt and gray gloves. Cyborg tried to hit him with his sonic cannon again and again, but he simply dodged the blasts with barely any effort. Ducking under one shot, he struck him in the chest with the palm of his hand, sending the cybernetic teen crashing against the force field, then ran up to him and kicked down the floor below.

"You're gonna wish you hadn't-" Cyborg began, but was interrupted when Blood planted both feet on his shoulders. Growling angrily, Cyborg got up and recklessly charged the villain, swinging his fists as fast as he could. But his blows were all either blocked or dodged with ease. Blood jumped back and the cybernetic teenager followed after, only for the headmaster to make a hole in a plate at the center of his chest. Cyborg took a few steps back, clutching his chest and looking at his opponent with surprise. "How did you do that?"

"I read your blueprints, remember?" Cyborg charged Blood, who batted his punch aside and struck with the palm of his hand, sending his crashing into the wall, then landing a blow with both feet and jumping off. Cyborg's shoulders opened up, and half a dozen small rockets were suddenly shot out towards his still airborne enemy. When the smoke from the ensuing explosion cleared, Cyborg looked up, and saw the gray haired villain standing on the platform above, before he jumped down and continued pummeling him.

* * *

Back in the control room, water had almost completely flooded every little nook and cranny. Though a bit overwhelmed at first, Robin, Raven, Gale and Starfire managed to swim upward until they reached a large enough pocket of air, where they were able to breathe in fully. "Everyone alright?" Robin asked.

"Super," Raven said sarcastically. "Until we run out of air."

Gale closed his eyes in concentration, pulling most of the surrounding air into a bubble around all their heads, keeping the rest inside and at the same time, preventing the water from coming in. "I can keep the air breathable," he informed them. "But unless we figure a way out of this mess, we'll be stuck here."

"Raven, Starfire," Robin spoke up after a moment's deliberation. "Grab one of the tiles and weld it against the hole so that no more water can come in. While you do that, I'll blow a hole in the door. Gale, let us go when I give you the signal. Now, breathe in deep." The four of them did so, sucking in what air their lungs could hold. The team leader then tapped Gale on the shoulder, after which their protective bubble was allowed to dissipate.

Raven used her powers to pick up a piece of the floor and held it in place over the hole. Starfire then joined her hands together and shot out a beam of green radioactive energy, moving it around the plate's edges, effectively welding it in place. As they were doing so, Robin swam over to the security door blocking the way they'd come in and placed a mine on it, retreating to a safe distance. The device exploded, taking out the door and allowing for the water to pour out. It carried the four Titans outside and dropped them off in the hallway once the level dropped down.

"We are saved!" Starfire exclaimed jubilantly.

Robin then got up and ran to a nearby computer console. "Let's just hope we can still save the others," he said, his fingers typing rapidly on the keyboard. After a couple seconds, he came up with a window saying 'Force Field Defense System', then clicked on 'Cancel'.

* * *

Back with Beast Boy and Aqualad, the two teenagers were still trying to avoid getting squashed, until, to their relief, the plates pressing against them suddenly stopped doing so. "Beast Boy, Aqualad, are you alright?" Robin's voice spoke up through the changeling's communicator.

"Almost got smushed, but we're fine now," Beast Boy answered.

"Then get to the force field."

"On it!"

"Come on!" Aqualad urged his green ally. "We have to short out the force field."

"I've got it." Beast Boy jumped at the electrical field, turning into an electric eel. The sudden increase of power caused the machine to overload and then blow up.

* * *

At this time, Cyborg was still getting his butt handed to him by the HIVE headmaster. He tried to punch him for the umpteenth time, but the villain dodged and grabbed his arm, pushing his head against the force field. But, fortunately for the young hero, the force field suddenly disappeared, at which both of them fell over. "Impossible!" Brother Blood exclaimed.

"Looks like my mission still has a shot at success," Cyborg said.

"Now how could your mission still have a shot, when you don't stand a chance?" Blood followed up on his words by charging red energy in his hands and shooting it a Cyborg's chest. He continues his relentless assault, until Bumblebee flew in and knocked him into the resonator. She then extended a hand to Cyborg, who smiled and used it to get up.

"You take Blood, I'll disable the core," Cyborg spoke up, at the same time as Bumblebee said "I'll take Blood, you disable the core."

"Another spy?" Blood noted as he got up. "Tell me… was anyone at my school actually there to learn!"

"I learned plenty," Bumblebee replied, getting into a fighting stance.

While the two combatants were busy fighting amongst themselves, Cyborg ran over to the platform in front of the doorway and pulled himself up using his hand as a grapple. He then walked over the resonator and put his arm into the outlet before him. "Alright. Now just locate the transmission matrix, pump up the wavelength and…" An electric shock suddenly came up and blasted Cyborg away. The giant sonic cannon then fired off another huge blast. And although they didn't see the effects outside, a second large wave was conjured as a result, catching up to the first and nullifying both. As for interior effects, they went along the lines of the entire building shaking and bits falling apart.

"That's two headquarters you owe me," Blood said to Cyborg, before running off through the doorway.

"Get im!"

Both teens ran after the headmaster. And although they ended up losing him, they met up with the other Titans and Aqualad. "We need to get out of here," Robin pointed out

"How?" Bumblebee asked.

"The T-Ship's toast," Cyborg reminded them.

"Helloooo," Beast Boy said, pointing to his tongue.

Everyone, with the exception of Raven, Gale and Beast Boy immediately started running away. "I'd really rather just stay here and drown," the young sorceress stated. The changeling simply shrugged his shoulders and ran off to join the others.

Gale, on the other hand, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away. "Come on. I'll form a sphere of air around you and me before we get out," Gale explained. "That way we can get to the surface without having to suffer in Beast Boy's mouth again."

"Good," she answered. "Anything but that."

* * *

As soon as they reached the same place they'd come in through, Aqualad and Beast Boy hopped into the pool, the latter changing himself into a whale, at which Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Bumblebee climbed into his gaping mouth. Gale and Raven hopped into a comfortably sized half formed sphere of air hovering above the pool area, before the winged boy pulled in the surrounding air to complete it. Tying off his creation so that he wouldn't have to worry about keeping it together, Gale then willed the air outside to guide their protective bubble, allowing them to follow the others.

Aqualad, Beast Boy, and air vehicle plowed through the water, distancing themselves from the giant structure as it collapsed. When they finally breached the surface, Gale dispersed the top half of the sphere, allowing himself and Raven to fly out, before letting it dissipate fully. After that, Beast Boy opened up his mouth and let Bumblebee and Starfire fly away, the Tamaranian girl carrying Robin and Cyborg. Raven picked up Beast Boy with her powers, after he'd regained his usual form, then let him go when he turned into a pterodactyl and Starfire deposited Cyborg on his back. That done, they all started to fly back towards Titans' Tower, with the exception of Aqualad who swam.

* * *

Now back in their home, the Titans, along with their two allies, were waiting in the main room while Robin was typing at a computer. "Soooo…" Beast Boy said to Gale, a widespread grin on his face. "That must have been something back then."

The air elemental frowned in confusion. "What exactly are you talking about?"

"You and Raven. Sitting alone in that bubble with nobody else. You must have felt something pretty special." He winked suggestively at this.

A blush suddenly started to work its way up Gale and Raven's faces. "Ooooo, that sounds romantic," Starfire commented.

"I didn't know you two had a thing going," Bumblebee said.

"WE DON'T!" they both protested.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Beast Boy… Shut. Up. Now," Raven ordered.

"And you two," Gale pointed at Cyborg and Aqualad, who were holding back laughter. "Don't you frikken dare laugh."

Silence reigned amongst the group, until Robin interrupted it. "Okay… Our last tracking info shows our target heading east. We'll fan out and-" The computer started to beep, reclaiming Robin's attention.

"You found Brother Blood?" Cyborg asked.

"Dr. Light found a bank vault," he said as an image of the light obsessed villain appeared on the television screen.

"Looks like your city needs you," Aqualad noted. "I'll go after Blood. If I run into any trouble, I know who to call."

"Actually," Bumblebee spoke up. "If he runs into trouble, I'll be there to bail him out." Robin, Starfire, Raven, Gale, Beast Boy and Aqualad then ran out of the room. "You wanna come with?" she asked Cyborg. "After all, it's your mission too."

"Thanks, but my mission is here."

"By the way, I think this belongs to you, Sparky." She then tossed him the blueprint disk, before running off.

"Cyborg," Robin spoke through his communicator. "Time to go."

"Yeah. It just might be."

* * *

So, thank you all for reading, and if you wouldn't mind taking a little bit more of your time to write a review, that would be much appreciated.


	15. The Beast Within

**Me: Do I really have to say it?**

**Gale: Yes, tough luck.**

**Beast Boy: Now just suck it up and be a man.**

**Me: Whatevs. I do not own the Teen Titans, except for Gale and the other stuff that isn't already in the show.**

**Cyborg: Good, and now that we've got that out of the way...**

**Me: Where did you come from?**

**Cyborg: Ummm, I just came here?**

**Me: But.. you can't go poof and appear out of nowhere and... on second thought, I'd rather not know.  
**

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**The Beast Within**

Late in the middle of the night, a full moon was sitting high in the sky, projecting its usual shed of light. On the edges of Jump City, rested a complex of a few relatively simple looking buildings, surrounded all around by a fence with barbed wire, and a sign saying 'Keep Out', in the hopes that people would do just that. On the outside, everything looked pretty much peaceful. However, if one were to go take a peek inside, the same could not be said in all honesty.

A bunch of different caged animals shrieked, barked, or cried out in whatever way they could as Beast Boy was sent flying back and bounced off of a cage before crashing on the floor at his teammates' feet. The Titans had answered the alarm and gone to a facility serving as a chemical research lab. On the opposite end of the room where the Titans were currently located, was a large figure covered in red armor with an 'A' in the middle of the chest piece. Only a masculine face could be seen, the rest of his body completely immersed in the power enhancing suit. "You wimps think you can take down Adonis?" the person asked. "Bring it on."

"Dude, it is totally brunked," Beast Boy said as he picked himself up off the floor. "I mean branked."

"Ooo, bad grammar," Raven noted, sarcasm obvious in her voice. "That otta scare him."

"Titans, go!" Robin ordered, at which the six of them charged their opponent.

The team leader drew one of his telescopic combat staves as he they ran, jumping up and striking the red armored villain. He leapt back afterwards, allowing for Beast Boy to bodily slam into him as a wolf. The Titans continued hounding him, Starfire and Raven peppering him starbolts and blast of black telekinetic energy, while Cyborg fired beams of blue from his cannon and Gale conjured similar looking beams of wind.

Robin then came charging at Adonis again, swinging his staff in a succession of rapid moves. However, as he attempted a downward strike, Adonis was able to catch the incoming weapon, stopping it short. Using his free hand, the villain then punched Robin hard enough so that he crashed into the ceiling, before landing on the floor with a thud. Adonis then pressed on the metal staff until it bent in two, then tossed it aside. "You're just making me more ripped." Eyes blazing with righteous fury, Starfire picked up a large, heavyset desk and threw it at the powerhouse villain. Although the floor underneath him cracked with the sudden weight, he was still able to catch it on his shoulders. "No pain, no gain," he said, before throwing it back at the alien girl, catching her full face.

Adonis then decided to go after Raven and Cyborg, only to be surrounded and trapped in black telekinetic energy. But, after struggling for a second, he managed to muscle his way out of it, causing the energy to explode outward, throwing back the two teens. This he followed up by lunging forward and pinning the young sorceress' shoulders against the floor. "Let. Me. Go!"

"You're feisty," he replied, seemingly not put off by her words.

"Let her go!" Adonis looked up just in time to see Gale flying towards him, fist pulled back and covered in a hardened gauntlet of air. The winged boy swung his arm forward and punched him in the face with all his strength, as well as having his gauntlet pulse outward at the same time, concentrating its energy at the villain's face. With such power put into this move, Adonis went crashing into the wall.

"Fuck!" he cried out as he was getting up, holding his hands to a bloodied face. "You just broke my nose!"

"That was the point," Gale stated bluntly, helping Raven get to her feet.

"You're gonna regret doing that, bird boy!" Adonis said, before charging forward, anger quite visible on his face. Raven then enveloped the two of them in her energy, phasing through the floor and out of the rampaging bad guy's way. Cyborg took his turn again, throwing a flurry of hard punches and hitting the power suit hard enough to drive its owner back

"Come on big man!" Cyborg called out as he kept punching hard. "Show me what you got. Show me what you got!" Adonis then did exactly that when he caught his next attempted punch with one hand and stopped it dead in its tracks. "Well okay then." The cybernetic teenager was then promptly sent crashing through a wall.

"Nobody outmuscles Adonis," the villain claimed.

"Oh yeah?" Beast Boy spoke up. "Well my muscles may not be all that big, but they're still… I mean…" the changeling dived to the side when Adonis came at him with a double handed blow, then turned into a bull and ran back at him, although the villain grabbed him by the horns, effectively stopping him. He spun Beast Boy around and threw him into a computer console, and then delivered a hard right, sending him back at the same spot when he tried to lunge as a tiger.

"What's the matter wus? Don't you know how to fight like a man?"

"I'm not a man," Beast Boy replied. "I'm an animal!" The shape-shifter suddenly became a yeti, jumping in the air and coming down at the villain, who barely had the time to get out of the way. The green yeti then changed into a rhinoceros, slamming in enemy in the chest with his horn. Just as Adonis was shaking off this blow, he looked at Beast Boy again, only to see an Ankylosaurus turn around and whip him with its club like tail. Upon getting up, he was faced with a green lion, claws outstretched and swinging ferociously. After putting a minor gash in the villain's armor, Beast Boy changed into a massive grizzly and continued to force him back.

"Beast Boy, careful!" Robin called out as he saw his friend pushing Adonis towards one of the chemical containing tanks lined against the wall. "The chemicals!" The titans stood still as they watched the changeling slam Adonis into the tank, causing a green liquid substance to spill out and splash on both of them. He continued slashing at his opponent, until the chemicals seeped into the gashes, causing the circuits to overload, at which the armor fell apart.

"Who's the tough guy now?" Beast Boy asked, looking down at the black haired boy, about his own size and wearing a red jumpsuit. He then turned around and walked back towards his friends.

"Umm, good job," Robin said.

"Nice… intensity," Cyborg added.

"Yeah…" Raven muttered. "Have any good freak outs lately?"

The green teenager turned around and stared at the young sorceress. "I just got sick and tired of being pushed around." The other titans merely looked at each other and shrugged, though unsure about their friend's new state of mind.

* * *

The next morning, as clouds were moving aside, making way for the sun to come through and shine over Jump City, Beast Boy was just waking up in his room. He stretched out his limbs as he got up, shedding the last remnants of tiredness. "Why is my bed up there?" the changeling wondered as he took into account that he was on the floor. "Sweet! I should sleep on the floor more often. I feel great!" He then happened to catch the drifting scent of something cooking. "And something smells awesome!" Beast Boy then ran out into the hall, heading towards the main room, unaware of the claw marks on his sheets.

* * *

In the common room of Titans' Tower, Robin and Gale were currently both in the kitchen area. The winged boy was sitting down with a pencil in hand and a sketchbook on the counter before him, while the Boy Wonder was making breakfast for both of them. "How's it coming along?" Gale asked, not looking away from his drawing of an ent walking alone in a forest.

"Almost done," Robin replied. A short moment later, he grabbed a pan from the stove and flipped it back, the eggs in it all landing on a plate behind him. A timer when 'ding' just after, at which he put on a pair of oven mitts and pulled out a small, boneless ham, setting it down next to the eggs and two glasses of orange juice. "Dig in." Gale set aside his incomplete drawing and was going to help himself to some of the food, when Beast Boy came over, his mouth almost watering.

All of a sudden, the green teenager picked up the plate of eggs and scarfed them down, before picking up the ham with his hands, tearing through the whole thing with surprisingly few bites and swallowing one glass of juice. "Help yourself," Gale said, sarcasm blatantly obvious in his voice.

"Beast Boy, that was… ham… and eggs," Robin stated, his mind failing to comprehend the scene they'd just witnessed.

"It sure was," he replied in a nonchalant tone of voice.

"Aren't you a vegetarian anyway?" Gale asked.

"Not anymore. Ever since I stood up to that loser Adonis, I feel like a new man, a real man," Beast Boy declared. "And real men don't eat tofu." He grabbed the other glass of juice and downed it in one gulp. "It's almost noon. You guys should get some breakfast."

"That was our breakfast," Robin said, though the changeling had already turned around and marched back out the door.

"This is an unexpected change."

"No kidding."

"I'll help you make breakfast again. I'm hungry."

* * *

Later in the day, while the others were doing their own thing elsewhere, Beast Boy was sitting on the couch in front of the television. He held a pop can in one hand, with a bunch of empty ones littered around, and had the remote in the other, simply flicking through the channels. He kept on going like this for a while, until Starfire approached him, smiling as she usually did. "Friend," she spoke up. "My most favourite program of the television, World of Fungus, is about to begin. May we please watch it?"

"No," he answered curtly, continuing to randomly change channels.

"But you are merely flipping through the-"

"I said no!" Beast Boy emptied the pop can in his mouth and let out a loud belch before tossing it with the others. "Now be a good girl and get me another root beer." Starfire looked at him with what could have been perceived as a certain measure of disgust, turned around, and walked away.

* * *

Down in the lower ends of Titans Tower, Cyborg was humming to himself as he was working on the T-Car, putting in a new engine and checking over all the systems at the same time. Completely absorbed in his current task, he took no notice of their resident alien girl as she came into the garage. "Greetings, friend," she spoke up. "Might there be something for which I can be of assistance to you?"

"Hey Star," he replied, taking his head out from under the hood. "Sure, you can help if you'd like."

"Thanks you."

The two of them toyed around with the engine before pulling it out shortly after. Following that, Starfire then picked up the new one with a single hand and with Cyborg's guidance, plopped it back it. "So…" the cybernetic teen began. "Mind telling me what's bothering you?" he asked, having noticed that she wasn't quite her usual joyful self.

"It is friend Beast Boy's latest behaviour that concerns me," she answered. "I have heard from Robin and Gale, as well as seeing it myself, that, as of late, he has been acting rather rudely."

"That doesn't sound like B," Cyborg commented. "But hey, he'll probably cool off after a bit, then apologize for everything." A few moments later, and the half robot deemed that their job was done. "Thanks for helping out."

"I welcome you most sincerely for your gratefulness," Starfire replied. "I shall now be going into the lavatories and attempt to remove the stains of grease I have accumulated during this enjoyable experience."

Cyborg then told her to go ahead while he cleaned up in the garage. After having finished doing so, as well as wiping himself off, he went out and made his way through the hallway until coming to the elevator. Getting off at the desired floor, he walked until coming to the main room, where Beast Boy was still sitting on the couch, playing a racing video game by himself. "Hey B," Cyborg greeted. "What's up?"

"Wanna play?" he replied, holding up a second gamestation remote. "Or are you scared I'll kick your can?"

"In your dreams," the cybernetic teenager shot back good naturedly. The two of them started up a new game to play against one another. Cyborg picked a white car with stripes of blue, while Beast Boy's was green with two purplish lines. The changeling's face was a mask of fierce determination as their cars were racing towards the end. But, to his surprise, the green one blew up when the white suddenly slammed into it and zoomed across the finish line.

"Dude, no fair!" Beast Boy exclaimed in annoyance. "You can't do that!"

"I can, I did, and baby, that's why I'm gonna win," Cyborg said with a smile.

"That's what you think!" The green teenager threw his remote to the floor, turned around and swung his outstretched hand at Cyborg, who looked down and saw four claw marks on his chest.

"Yo man, chill," he said. "It's just a stupid game." But even though his words were true, Beast Boy simply ignored him and stormed out of the room.

* * *

Later in the day, after Beast Boy's preceding act of rudeness, the common room was empty again. That is, with the exception of Gale, who was sitting down with his painting material around him. At the moment, his attention was focussed on the portrait in progress. The background showed an ordinary looking kitchen in an apartment building, and in the middle, was a beautiful woman wearing a simple white apron and working at a counter. She had waist length black hair tied together in a long ponytail behind her back, deep green eyes, a gentle face and a kind hearted look. A bunch of ingredients were out on the counter, as well as a bowl which the woman was stirring its contents with a wooden spoon.

Gale remained undisturbed for practically all the time that he was working on the painting. However, as he was adding the final details to her face, accentuating her bright smile, the doors split open and none other than Beast Boy walked in, although Gale hardly paid him any attention. "So, you're all busy painting again," he noted, munching on a bag of chips as he did so. "There's a big surprise."

"So?" the winged boy asked, not bothering to turn around. "What about it?"

"You should set your sights on doing something worthwhile."

"I didn't ask for your opinion," Gale shot back, annoyed at his teammate's behaviour.

"You don't need to," Beast Boy scoffed. "By the way, your painting is just weird. And that woman looks like something dragged out of a trash can." Gale's paintbrush suddenly snapped, his hand having tightened around it upon hearing the changeling's words. The winged boy breathed heavily, attempting to control his anger from bursting out. "What's the matter? You can't take a-"

"Beast Boy…" Gale spoke, his voice taking on a dangerous tone as he slowly got up and turned around, giving his fellow titan an angry piercing stare. "The woman in this painting was once one of the best people on earth. I will not allow you to tarnish her memory. So why don't you just shut your mouth up right now?"

"Make me," Beast Boy scoffed. Gale remained silent, quivering with anger. "Oh, you gonna go cry to your mommy? Or is she even more of a freak than-"

"I am nano seconds away from completely losing my temper and blowing you through a wall, if not more. So, a piece of advice, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET OUT OF HERE YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" Gale's voice exploded at the last part, causing Beast Boy to feel a certain amount of unease from the sheer volume and power resonating through it.

"Whatever," the changeling said after a moment, then wisely chose to leave him alone.

The winged boy sat back down on his chair, breathing deeply in an attempt to regain control of his emotions. He flicked the pieces of his broken paintbrush with his powers, depositing them in the garbage, then continued looking at the painting of his mother that he'd spent hours working on to make it as perfect as possible. As his eyes were focussed on it, he heard the doors opening up again, through which Robin, Starfire and Cyborg walked in. "What happened?" the team leader asked.

"I'll give you a hint," Gale said. "Green, big mouth and acting like a prick."

"Beast Boy?" Cyborg guessed.

"Yeah."

"Friend Beast Boy has been most annoying lately," Starfire said. "What has he done to make you angry?"

"He opened his fat mouth. '_By the way, your painting is just weird. And that woman looks like something dragged out of a trash can._' Those were his exact words," Gale said, showing them the painting.

"No way!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"How could he possibly dare say something so cruel?" Starfire wondered. "This is a great work of art, and she is simply beautiful."

"It's strange…" Robin muttered pensively. "But that woman seems kind of familiar."

"Her name was Kelly Rhodes," Gale answered.

"Was?" Cyborg asked, apparently confused.

"Civilian casualty. May 26, seven years ago." The winged boy's face showed a pang of sadness as he spoke.

Robin's mind went back in time for a moment upon hearing his friend's words.

'_Sometime when I was eight. I don't think my stepfather shed too many tears when I left afterwards_.'

'_My mother was a normal person and my father left before I was born._'

'_I was too slow and a civilian died._'

'_You don't have any idea what he's done!_'

"Gale…" Robin spoke softly, the pieces falling into place. "She was your mother, wasn't she?"

"My real name is Amicus Rhodes, born the 24th of March, 16 years ago in Jump City. I ran away at 9 years old when I defeated my mother's murderer, and came back almost seven years later."

"I'm sorry man," Cyborg apologized.

"I am saddened to hear of your loss," Starfire added.

"Sorry," Robin said sincerely.

"It's okay," Gale responded. "I've gotten a lot better with Raven's help."

"You already told Raven?" Cyborg inquired.

"She went into my head, so I didn't have much of a choice, plus I figured I owed it to her for what she'd done. And on a side note, if Grass Stain is stupid enough to make another remark like he did already and there's no one around to restrain me, then I'll blast him back and forth through a few walls."

* * *

Evening had come around Jump City, the light outside having dimmed down to the usual moon and stars glow. After having spent some time in the training room, mangling certain pieces of equipment in the process, Beast Boy had left and was walking by himself through the one of the hallways. As he turned a corner, Raven came down the hall from the end opposite, holding a book up in front of her face. For some reason or another, Beast Boy simply kept walking forward, making no deviation from his course, so that he bumped into the young sorceress in passing, causing her book to fall down. "Sorry," she said after picking it up.

"You better be," the changeling shot back. "Why don't you look where you're going?"

At this, Raven's expression changed from mildly apologetic to visibly annoyed. "On second thought, I'm not sorry, and you're a jerk." She then turned around and continued walking the same way she'd originally been going, until Beast Boy came up in front of her.

"You know Raven, I've been a really nice guy for a long time. I put up with your insults, and your attitude, and I've had it," Beast said, getting in her face. "Consider this a warning. As of last night, Mr. Nice Guy has left the building."

"Is this the part where I'm supposed to be intimidated?" Raven asked, unimpressed by him.

"No, this is!" he answered, changing into a yeti, at which Raven took a few steps back and summoned black telekinetic energy around her hands.

"Beast Boy!" Robin spoke up. "Leave her alone!"

The changeling stood still for a moment, his arms held high as he looked at the other Titans gathered at the opposite end of the hall. "What's gotten into you, man?" Cyborg asked.

"You are behaving like a royal Zarbnarf!" Starfire said. For his part, Gale remained unmoving, arms crossed and staring at their green teammate.

Beast Boy then regained his usual form, moved past Raven and over to the four other Titans. "Look," he began. "This is who I am now. You guys don't like it? Tough!"

"Fine!" Robin said. "If this is how you're gonna act, do it somewhere else! None of us are interested." The changeling stared angrily at the Boy Wonder for a moment, then sneered and walked away to his room.

* * *

At the moment, Gale was alone in his room. After having looked over the painting of his mother to make sure that even the tiniest detail was in place, he'd judged that it was finished. Once sure that the paint was dry, he went through the process of placing it within a frame he'd bought specifically for it. The winged boy hammered a nail into the wall, then dispelled his tool and gently put the painting in its chosen place. As he finished doing so, the sound of someone knocking at his door caught his ears. "Gale, you in there?" Raven's voice spoke up.

"Yeah, just a second," he answered, then walked over to the door and opened it wide. "Come in," I'd like to show you something."

The young sorceress accepted the invitation and stepped inside her friend's room. She looked in the direction he pointed her to and saw the portrait prominently displayed on his wall, instantly recognizing it as one of his mother. "Wow," she said. "This must be the best I've ever seen. But, does this mean you've told the others about her?"

"Robin, Starfire and Cyborg, yes. As for Beast Boy... let's just say that I had to exercise great restrain to keep myself from reacting too violently after he insulted her. If he ever snaps out of whatever's his problem... there's an odd chance I might explain it to him. That is, if I ever see a reason to do so."

"I hope he snaps out of it," Raven said. "If he doesn't, Robin will probably kick him off the t-"

"Wait a sec," Gale interrupted, holding up his hand, signalling for her to be quiet. "I can hear something." The two of them remained silent for a split moment, the winged boy's ears twitching a little as he focussed on his hearing. "I think it's coming from around Beast Boy's room."

The two Titans walked out and headed towards their shape-shifting teammate's room. Upon arriving at his door, Raven could hear strange snarling like noises coming from inside. "Beast Boy?" she asked. Immediately afterwards, a bunch of fist sized dents appeared in the door, as if someone, or something was punching it, before it flew off and crashed into the opposite wall. A growling sound came through the doorway, followed by a large, menacing figure which lunged at the two of them.

* * *

"Raven!" Robin called out, him, Cyborg and Starfire having heard her distressed cry. They came together just outside of the female titan's room.

"She's not in her room," Cyborg informed them.

"Gale is not in his own either," Starfire added.

"Beast Boy," Robin said, at which they rushed towards their green teammate's room. Upon arriving there, they were surprised to see the door ripped away, and that the inside looked as if a tornado with claws has gone on a rampage. Robin and Starfire went over to the window, and saw more claw marks on the outside of the tower. "What happened?"

"Guys, look," Cyborg called his friends over. He pointed to a spot in the hallway where a somewhat viscous white liquid had fallen on the floor. "White blood."

"That means Gale's hurt!" Robin realized.

* * *

With all the haste they employed whenever the alarm would go off, and even more with their friends' lives now possibly at stake, the three Titans rushed out of the tower and into the city. Robin rode his R-Cycle, Cyborg drove the T-Car, and Starfire flew, each of them vigilant and alert from any trace of their missing teammates. "Alright, team," Robin spoke to the others through his communicator. "We've got three missing Titans, one of them injured and no explanation. We need answers, so split up!"

When they came to an intersection, Cyborg drove straight through, while Starfire went left and the Boy Wonder veered left. Robin continued down his end, spotting nothing out of the ordinary. "I have spotted something," he heard Starfire say. "Something with claws."

"Steering to your coordinates," Cyborg spoke up.

"Track it, Starfire," Robin ordered. "We'll be there as soon as we can." He kept on the same path for a split moment longer, until he turned into an alley and stopped when something caught his eye. The thing in question turned out to be a piece of battered blue fabric hanging on a gate. "Raven..." he muttered, figuring out its owner instantly. Determination engraved into his face, he revved up the R-Cycle and zoomed forward, 'hopping' onto a dumpster, over a cement barrier and came down on the other side.

"I just got a lock on Raven and Gale," Cyborg announced. "They're both in the same place, but they're moving fast." The team leader drove on across and alley and met up with the others. "They were here just a second ago!"

Robin flipped open his communicator and looked at the screen for a moment. "No, they were down there," he said, looking at a nearby manhole cover. "The signal's coming from underground." Cyborg pulled off the cover and jumped in, followed by the others. A light flipped up from his shoulder, giving them some manner of illumination as they trekked across the dark and damp tunnels, the thin layer of water on the floor splashing with each step the boys took.

"Raven's stopped," Cyborg noted, looking at a screen on his arm. "And she's close by." The three of them kept moving straight forward, the constant beeping noise coming from Cyborg's arm becoming more and more frequent as they got closer. They stopped Robin picked up Raven's brooch from the 'sidewalk'.

"Ooo, I wish to know that our friends are okay now, please," Starfire spoke up.

"Join the club," Cyborg replied. "I still can't find BB's signal."

"It's not him I'm worried about," Robin said. A howling noise suddenly resounded throughout the sewer tunnels. "Can you locate the source?"

"Fraid not," Cyborg answered.

"Can you get Gale's signal?"

"Hang on... Yes, I got it!" The cybernetic teen lead the way, following their winged friend's trail. After following through the underground maze, taking a right or left path when necessary, they stopped again when they found Beast Boy's belt. Taking a moment to pick it up and examine it, they kept moving onward, only to stop again after coming out of a side tunnel.

At a dead end just a leap away, on solid ground raised above the murky sewer water, Cyborg's light showed them something they hadn't entirely expected. A green, but vaguely humanoid figure was standing with its back to them, seemingly almost like a large gorilla, except for a mane of hair falling down its back. It turned around at their arrival, allowing them to see its muscular build and flat, somewhat wolfish face. The creature had the hood of Raven's cloak in its mouth, holding up the young sorceress who, despite being unconscious, had no obvious signs of being hurt. Another surprise was Gale's limp form resting in its wide hands. However, unlike Raven, his injuries jumped out much more. From the teeth marks in his left shoulder, to a few bloody cuts on his arm below, a bruise on the side of his head, and the grim looking gashes on his torso.

A gasp escaped Starfire's lips at the sight of their friends. The creature then lowered Raven to the floor with surprising gentleness, and placed Gale on his back right next to her, his unusual blood staining its hands. "Attack!" Robin called out.

In response, the green beast jumped over the unconscious Titans and lunged at the perceived threat. Cyborg delivered a powerful uppercut, after which Robin connected with a flying kick, though it managed to land on its hands and feet. The Boy Wonder ran forward, only to have the creature swat him aside, then jump on Cyborg and pin him to the ground. Shrugging off the blow as best his could, Robin got to his feet and charged their enemy again. It tried to hit him, but he was able to dive under a swinging arm. Now free from its grip, the cybernetic teenager jumped onto its back and tried to hold it with a headlock.

As Robin cartwheeled away, the creature managed to grab Cyborg and fling him back into the tunnel's wall. Their enemy then started to move towards Starfire, who was kneeling beside their fallen friends, wrapping Raven's cloak around Gale's torso and shoulder. But even after being intercepted by a flying drop kick from Robin, it simply flipped around, planted its feet on the wall and bounced off, punching him with enough force that he crashed into the water next to Cyborg.

When he got up, he saw the monster holding Starfire trapped in its hands, before she kicked it hard in the face, sending it flying past Cyborg and Robin. Getting up quickly, Robin threw a pair of explosive disks, at the same time as Cyborg fired a shot from his sonic cannon and Starfire her eyebeams. The combined attacks caught the creature in mid air, drawing a pained cry and obscuring their vision. When the dust cleared, to their surprise, Beast Boy was lying in the shallow water, his uniform torn in places.

"No…" the three of them exclaimed, not wanting to believe what they were seeing.

"Where am I?" he asked, rubbing his head as he sat up. "And why are you guys looking at me like that?"

* * *

Sometime later on, after Raven, Gale and Beast Boy had been taken out of the sewer complex, all six of the teenage heroes had gathered in the medical bay of Titans Tower. Raven had her eyes closed and arms at her side, lying straight like a board as she was hovering just above one of the hospital bed. Gale was lying down on the bed next to her, in a similar state of unconsciousness. The winged boy's shirt and gloves had been removed from his body, so the others could better take care of his wounds. After assuring themselves that his injuries were clean from any risk of infection, they had wrapped bandages around his left arm and torso as tightly as they dared. As for Beast Boy, he had been placed into a solid metal chair, restrained to it with cuffs around his wrists and ankles, effectively keeping him trapped in place.

"I hope that friends Raven and Gale will be okay," Starfire said.

"Raven's fine," Cyborg answered, looking at one of the screens on the wall. "She only has a few bruises, maybe a minor concussion at most. Anyway, she's in some kind of trance right now, probably healing herself. And Gale should be alright, despite the extent of his injuries."

"He's lucky we got to him when we did," Robin pointed out. "He's lost a fair amount of blood and his is too different to try a transfusion, although he still held out alright, all things considered." The Boy Wonder frowned in thought. "Or maybe it has something to do with this strange symbol on his chest."

"Personally, I'd recommend waiting until he comes around before asking him about it," Cyborg suggested.

"They're going to be okay, right?" Beast Boy piped up. "I mean… I had a fight with Raven, and Gale was angry at me, but… I would never hurt them like that."

"She was in your teeth," Starfire reminded him. "And he was in your hands, which had his blood on them."

"That's a lie!"

Robin walked around the two medical beds and over to where Beast Boy was. "I'm going to ask you to keep your voice down." The changeling gripped the armrests tightly and stared angrily at his friend for a moment, before his expression softened.

"I'm picking up traces of recombinant DNA," Cyborg spoke up. "It's not human."

"The chemicals at the lab?" Robin guessed.

"Because of the shape-shifting, his genetic code was always unstable. Maybe now it's just… finally falling apart."

"What's happening to me?" Beast Boy wondered. "What've I done?"

"You need to tell me what happened," Robin demanded in a no-nonsense voice.

"I already told you, I can't remember. After the argument with Raven I went to my room, I was angry and then… nothing. Claws, a scream… nothing."

"Claws and a scream aren't nothing," Robin pointed out. "What else is there?"

"That's all."

"No, it isn't. You have to focus, you have to remember."

"I'm trying," Beast Boy said, eyes closed shut, looking as if he was struggling against something.

"Try harder. If you can't remember, I'll have to assume the worst. I'll have to put you in jail. You need to remember!"

"I can't!" The screen depicting the green teenager's stats suddenly began to give off a warning sound, at the same time as his body was shaking. "Get away from me." Beast Boy suddenly began to get bigger, until he had transformed into the Beast, breaking through his restraints in the process. He tried to run towards the injured Titans, but Cyborg shot out a cable from his arm and stopped him from going further. Robin and Starfire then tried to rush him, but he simply swatted them away like flies, then pulled on the cable around his body and swung Cyborg into the wall.

The alien girl then attempted to punch a kick him, yet was unsuccessful in landing a blow, and was herself struck and crashed through the doors. Robin interposed himself, staff in hand. "Leave her alone!" he commanded, then pushed the Beast back, following up with a series of swings and jabs, that were all dodged, until one clipped the side of its face, after which Robin spun around and hit a powerhouse kick in his opponent's stomach. "Sleep tight."

The Beast jumped to the side, avoiding an explosive disk sent its way, then lunged forward and floored the Titans' leader with a hard punch. But before it could celebrate its victory in any way, a pair of starbolts came crashing against its hide, followed up by a pair of eyebeams hurling it into the hall, without going through the doorway. Growling to show off that he wasn't out yet, the bestial Titan got up and ran away before the others could catch him.

"Guard Raven and Gale in case he comes back," Robin told Starfire, then motioned for Cyborg to follow him.

* * *

Vague memories of a moment not long past flitted across Raven's mind. A bestial creature lunging out from Beast Boy's room, tossing her aside like a roll of newspaper, causing the back of her head to bang against the wall. Groggily looking up, she saw Gale struggling to remain conscious and fighting, with blood falling from his torso onto the floor. The monster quickly swiped at him, cutting into his right arm, drawing more white blood. It then attempted to sink its teeth into his throat, and even though the winged boy was able to move himself and avoid an instant death, the creature still bit into his left shoulder. Even with the pain he was in, Gale managed punch its face with a fist of air, causing its powerful jaws to open up.

The creature swatted him so that he landed in a heap next to Raven, who instinctively let out a scream. But the effort claimed the last shreds of her consciousness, pulling her into a forced slumber, just as she caught a glimpse of another similar looking creature swooping in and saving the two Titans from a grisly fate.

Raven's flashback was interrupted when she woke with a start, her eyes opening up to the sight of the infirmary's interior. As this happened, she sat up straight on the medical bed, holding a hand to her head. "Beast Boy…" she muttered.

"Rest, you are both safe," Starfire said reassuringly, with a hand on her shoulder. "He can no longer harm you."

"He… didn't hurt me, or Gale," Raven replied, wincing a little when she saw her winged friend lying unconscious on the bed nearby. "He saved us both."

"Saved you? But… from what?"

* * *

Once again in the underground tunnels that were the sewers, Robin and Cyborg were tracking down their Beast transformed friend. After following his trail for some time, they finally found him at a wide space that formed an intersection between four tunnels. The cybernetic teenager flipped up his shoulder light, causing their friend to shy away from it, and changed his arm into sonic cannon mode. "Don't move," Robin spoke, picking up three disks from his belt.

"Just chill, man!" Cyborg called out. "It doesn't have to go down like this." In response, the Beast simply turned around to face the two Titans.

"When I move," Robin began. "Hit im with everything you've got." The two teenage heroes stood still, facing the green creature that was their friend, which looked straight in their direction and growled fiercely, then lunged. "Now!" As soon as Robin gave the signal, they were suddenly plunged into the dark. A few brief sounds of a scuffle were heard in the darkness, before the half metal man's light came back up, allowing them to see their friend locked in close combat with a creature identical to his current state, except that it was all red.

"There's two of these things?" Cyborg spoke up. The red beast pulled back one of its arms and punched its adversary, sending him flying into the wall, then ran forward and carried it through a few more. The two teens ran off down one of the tunnels as parts of the roof fell out of place.

* * *

Back with the two bestial fighters, after plowing Beast Boy through a couple of walls, the red creature came to a fairly large room, with pillars planted in certain spots. As they entered, the second beast threw its opponent into the middle of the room, then jumped in the air and came down at him. The green beast flipped back, avoiding a blow that formed a hole in the floor, then lunged forward, only to be driven back by a two handed punch.

The two combatants circled around each other for a bit, neither making a move, other than staring and snarling. Tired of waiting, Beast Boy threw a hard punch, which his enemy moved to one side to avoid, then the opposite direction to not get hit by the next. It then grabbed his arm in its teeth, slamming him into the floor a few times, and throwing up into the air, where the shape-shifter's body made an indent in the ceiling and crashed back down.

The red beast stood before its green counterpart, then raised its arms and struck with a powerful double handed blow. Unable to fight back at the moment, Beast Boy could only take the beating, as several more powerhouse blows came down at him. Deciding that it was finished with him, the red beast raised its head in the air and howled defiantly, then turned around and started to walk away.

But as it turned out, underestimating Beast Boy was a mistake, as he was not quite out of the equation. His enemy's back to him, he quickly sprung to his feet and lunged forward with surprising speed. The red creature turned around, only to have its vision go blurry when the changeling slammed a fist into its jaw. Infuriated and determined to win, Beast Boy continued the offensive, pummeling his opponent with several consecutive powerhouse blows, including one which sent the red beast crashing through a thick pillar.

Struggling to its feet with effort, the red creature managed to plant itself unsteadily on two feet, just in time for Beast Boy to hit it with a body slam. The malevolent beast was kept in the air as the changeling kicked off the wall, coming back and hitting it again full force, repeating the process a few times, before he stopped and threw an uppercut hard enough to make it crash into the ceiling. As it was falling again, Beast Boy jumped up, and came down on his enemy, planting both feet into its stomach, so that it slammed into the floor, kicking up a hole from which it didn't rise. His enemy now defeated, Beast Boy changed into his usual elf like form.

Robin and Cyborg came into the room and saw their kneeling friend, rushing to his side. "Beast Boy," the Boy Wonder called out.

Cyborg then took notice of the miniature crater where the red beast had crashed and when he checked it out, saw that lying in its place, was none other than a man in a tattered red jumpsuit. "Adonis," he muttered, realizing who the true culprit was.

"You okay?" Robin asked Beast Boy as he supported him onto his shoulder. The wearied shape-shifter managed to formulate some sort of positive response. "Come on then, let's go."

* * *

By the time that Gale emerged from his state of unconsciousness, Adonis had been taken to jail, Beast Boy had returned to Titans Tower with his friends and both of them had been cleared of the chemical residues that had caused their transformation. The others explained everything to him that had transpired during the time that he'd been knocked out. With the strange symbol on his chest being uncovered, he had answered their obvious questions about it, telling them the same thing that Raven already knew.

After making sure that Gale and Raven were in good enough condition, they all got out of the medical bay. Wanting to give his wounds space to 'breathe', the air elemental put on a loose green t-shirt instead of replacing the top half of his uniform. Along with Raven, he walked outside to the island, where they found Beast Boy sitting on a rock by himself. "Hey," Gale spoke up.

"Hey," the changeling responded, still looking down at the water. The two other Titans walked over and sat down next to him. "So… he was the one who did this to you guys?" he said, turning his head to look at his friends. "Not me, right?"

"He broke into the tower to attack you," Raven explained. "But wound up attacking us."

"I acted like a real jerk. I'm sorry for that, and making fun of your painting."

"You should know, the person I painted was my mother. She died to save me from that villain on May 26, seven years ago." Beast Boy's face dropped a little at hearing this. "However, even though you insulted her, you weren't your usual self. Besides, if it weren't for you, Raven and I wouldn't even be alive. And for saving my life, I forgive you." Gale said the last part with sincerity in his voice.

"Thanks…" Silence reigned between the three of them for a moment longer, until Beast Boy spoke up again. "Cyborg said the chemicals at the lab messed with my DNA, unleashed something… primal."

"And he gave you an antidote," Raven stated. "You're better now."

"Yeah. But that thing… that Beast, it came from inside me, and it's still there. I can feel it."

"Having that thing inside doesn't make you an animal," the sorceress spoke. "Knowing when to let it out, is what makes you a man."

"Hmm... Then maybe you should call me Beast Man from now on." The changeling got up and stood on the rock, posing with a wide smile.

"This is certainly profound," Gale noted, with both sarcasm and a touch of good humor.

"Try not to ruin the moment," Raven added.

"Oh… okay then." Beast Boy then sat back down again, merely looking outward and enjoying the moment with both his friends.

* * *

So, I hope you all liked it, even though it took freeking long to finish. Anyway, please leave a review if you don't mind and tell me what you thought of this. Later!


	16. Worm, Moth, Worm

Disclaimer: I don't own The Teen Titans or anything in it. However, Gale is my creation.

I would've posted this earlier, except for the fact that there was a problem that came up when I tried to upload it. But, now it's here.

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Worm, Moth, Worm**

It was another beautiful day in Jump City, especially for the Teen Titans, who the alarm had not disturbed yet. Gale was currently alone in his room, sitting on his bed while wearing his uniform again. The wounds he had received from the mutated Adonis had healed with surprising speed, and now his bandages were gone. While sitting on his bed, Gale held the small black book in his hands and was going over some entries which described the battle against 'The Destroyer'.

"_Only when all four of us went to do battle with the demon lord did we truly see him for the first time. He shifts form at his whim, but always he is dark, monstrous, and evil beyond words. To taunt us, he took the form of our fallen father, but we would not be deterred by such an insult._"

"_Overconfident at first, The Destroyer was made to regret his initial arrogance. We attacked and released our powers upon him. We called on cataclysmic winds, commanded gargantuan waves to rise, conjured enormous blazing infernos and hurled colossal mountains of earth._"

"_The Destroyer bellowed out in pain as the elements' might struck with devastating force, the sky itself shaking from the shockwave. In the moment following that which our attacks hit their target, little could be seen, heard, or sensed in any manner. The four of us having poured as much power into our offense as we could, we merely waited for the surroundings to become clear again. However, once they did, we were all surprised, not expecting to see what lay before us._"

"_The Destroyer still lived! Despite having been pit against all the children of the Earth and Sky at once, despite his overconfidence, despite being struck directly by the raging powers of the elements, despite having been battered, hurt and wounded… despite all this, The Destroyer still lived! Keeping the form of our father, the monstrosity gave a twisted, evil smile as it rose from its dark throne and looked down on us._"

The winged boy was pulled away from his reading when the alarm went off, compelling him to set his book aside and rush out of his room.

* * *

Shortly afterwards, all six Titans were closing in on the source of disturbance that had triggered the alarm. Gale, Raven and Starfire were flying, while Beast Boy, Robin and Cyborg had piled up into the T-Car. "Any idea who we're dealing with?" Beast Boy inquired.

"Actually… this time it's Johnny Rancid," the Boy Wonder answered.

"Why did it have to be that stupid moron?" Gale asked rhetorically.

"Are you gonna be alright?" Raven wondered, an expression that could be passed as concern plastered on her face.

"Don't worry about a thing, I'll be okay."

"Are you sure?" Robin asked. "It's just that last time with Johnny, you kind of…"

"Went berserk?" Beast Boy added in.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You guys can be assured that I won't hurt him… too much." Even with the added part of Gale's statement, the Titans nevertheless kept moving in their target's direction. As they were closing in on the scene, they saw a bunch of civilians running away in panic, the source of their fear being a crudely made, if still deadly looking, tank sized mechanical dog. As it lunged forward, bearing down on a woman and her daughter, Starfire let loose a barrage of starbolts, causing the metal dog to yelp in surprise as it was sent careening back towards its owner.

The woman and her child ran off as the Titans stood faced with the villain and his mindless mutt. "We're shutting you down, Johnny," Robin declared.

"And your little dog too," Raven added.

"Anybody got a gigantic rolled up newspaper?" Beast Boy asked.

Gale cracked his knuckles as he stared at their enemy. "You were bad enough being a bully back in school, and you still haven't changed since then."

Though not entirely at ease with having the winged boy against him, Johnny still didn't back down. "Oh yea? Well now, things are gonna be different. Rex," he called out to his dog, which had already gotten to its feet. "Sic em!"

"Titans, go!" Robin said his famed battle cry as the mechanical creature was running towards them. The order issued, Cyborg changed his arm into his sonic cannon, then fired off a blast of bluish energy, while Starfire threw a flurry of Starbolts. Regardless of such, the villain's pet continued racing forward, moving to the side to avoid their attacks, and ploughing through a pair of cars Raven put in its way.

Just before the metal canine was going to crash in the Titans, Gale reached out with his mind and commanded the air underneath to explode upward, causing their enemy to go flying over their heads and land behind them. Robin came charging in soon after, wielding a short combat staff in each hand. He struck the metal dog just as it was getting up, then connected with a hard strike that sent it crashing into the pavement. Johnny was stunned by this for a moment, then laughed when his pet smacked Robin with its mouth, making him fly back towards his friends. "Smooth move, bird boy. My dog is kicking your-" he began, but was interrupted when a green donkey kicked him in the chest with its hind legs.

Beast Boy admired his handy work, until his attention was diverted by the mechanical creature coming after him, though fortunately it was stopped short when Cyborg grabbed the chain hanging from its neck. "Starfire, Raven, let im have it." The metal dog then stopped struggling against Cyborg and ran in the opposite direction. "Down boy," he said as it dragged him along. "Heel, heel!"

"On my world, such a pet would merely be considered playful," Starfire commented. Gale looked at the alien girl with a slightly incredulous look on his face.

"Then let's play," Raven said. Gale whistled loudly enough to catch the dog's attention, which stopped suddenly enough to snap its chain, flinging Cyborg away. The Titans' sorceress picked up a lamp post with his powers, throwing it back with a wave of her hand. "Fetch."

The metal dog revved up and tore after the lamp post, jumping in the air and catching it in its mouth. As it was enjoying its catch, it happened to look up, and its eyes bugged out upon seeing Starfire gathering a ball of green energy in her hands. Its eyes remained wide open as it was simultaneously struck by the Tamaranean's attack, a blast of sonic energy and one of Robin's disks, exploding and falling to pieces.

"Nice going dudes," Beast Boy said as he joined his team.

"Beast Boy, where's Johnny?" Robin asked.

"Umm… I thought you had im?" The five other Titans all groaned at this.

* * *

"Okay team," Robin spoke up when they were back in Titans' Tower, walking towards the main room. "Johnny Rancid's still on the loose. I'll check the scanners while-"

"HUH!" All six Titans gasped as soon as they walked into the main room, fairly surprised at the state it was in. Food, food containers, garbage and all sorts of junk was lying on the floor, counters and all around.

"There was a party, and we were not invited?" Starfire wondered.

"A party? More like a tornado," Robin commented.

"A tornado with teeth," Raven noted, looking at the sofa, which looked like something had taken bites out of it.

"YO!" Cyborg exclaimed, holding up a ruined gamestation remote. "Who's been chewing on my gamestation!"

"What a mess," Gale mumbled.

"I'll track down Rancid," Robin spoke up again. "You guys track down… whatever did this." While their leader stayed in the main room, the other Titans went back into the hallway to search for the cause of the mess.

"Sensors aren't picking up anything but a few bugs," Cyborg announced after they'd been looking for a while. "Any of y'all gotta clue what we're supposed to be looking for?"

"No," Raven, Starfire, and Gale said.

They then looked to their green teammate, who had a bit of a nervous look on his face. "Me? No! Why would I?" His words were as little convincing as the expression on his face. "I saw a tentacle!" he exclaimed suddenly.

"Move!" Cyborg ordered, at which he, Raven and Gale followed in the direction Beast Boy had pointed.

Starfire was about to join her friends, but was prevented from doing so when Beast Boy grabbed the alien girl and pulled her into his room, closing the door behind them and locking it. "What is the meaning of this?"

"You've gotta help me. I know who trashed the tower."

"You do?"

"And we can't let anyone find him."

"Why not?"

"Okay. Remember when Killer Moth made an army of mutant moths and forced Robin to take his daughter to prom? And she was like 'mwaah', and you were like 'grrr', and he was like 'awww'? But then we found Killer Moth. And I was like 'dude', and Raven was like 'uhh', and Cyborg was like 'booyah!', and we kicked his butt, and the mutant moths turned back into these cute little wormy things?"

"Umm... yes?" Starfire replied, uncertain because of the way her friend had described their encounter with the villain in question.

"Well... even though you guys told me not to, I sort of kept one of them as a pet." The green teenager went over to his bed and took something out from underneath it. "Starfire, meet Silkie." He turned around and showed off a whitish worm like creature about as big as a loaf of bread, with little legs, beady eyes and a row of teeth in its mouth. "You gotta admit, he's kinda cute... in a beady eyed maggoty sort of way."

"Umm..."

"You have to take of him for me."

"I do?"

"It's just a matter of time before the others come to search my room. If they find him, they'll make me get rid of him."

"They will?"

"Pleeeease?" Beast Boy begged. "It'll be our little secret."

"I do not like to keep secrets from my friends."

"Come on, Star. I need you, Silkie needs you."

"But... but..." The changeling then made puppy dog eyes at her, against which she resigned herself to take care of the mutant worm. She held out her arms, and Beast Boy passed Silkie to her. The alien girl took a good look at the creature she was holding, then her face changed from reluctant to overjoyed. "Hello, my little bumgorf."

A knocking sound at Beast Boy's door alerted them to the others' presence. "Quick, they're coming! You've gotta get out of here!" The shape-shifter opened up his window, pushed Starfire out, who flew away, got it again and opened the door for his friends.

"And I thought the common room was a mess," Gale commented.

"Hello, Beast Boy," Raven greeted him.

"Mind if we have a look around?" Cyborg asked.

"Come on in, I have nothing to hide," he replied with a smile on his face.

* * *

Having returned to her own room, Starfire was sitting next to her bed, while Silkie was lying where she usually slept. "Weep not, small one," the alien girl said reassuringly, as the mutant worm had been crying for some time. "Your kanorfka Starfire is here to fulfill your every need." She then picked up Silkie and held it in her arms. "You are too warm? Too cold? Have you the gas?" Starfire patted it on the back as one would to do a baby, at which it burped loudly, before starting to cry loudly again. "Hmm... perhaps you require a bath?" Holding the mutant worm in front of her, she started to clean it with her tongue, and stopped when she was at its back, as it had grabbed her hair in its mouth. "You are hungry!" she said in realization.

Starfire left her room for a short while, then came back and placed her pet in a high chair with a bib around its neck. "Please, what do Silkies eat?" She then proceeded to hold out different food items in front of the worm, who refused by turning its head away from each one. "You must eat something... zorka berries!" A quick dash away and she returned with a container holding the named alien food. "No creature could resist the delicious bitterness of zorka berries from my home planet, Tamaran." She pulled off the top of the container and picked out one of the purple berries, rejoicing in its taste. Seeing this, Silkie tentatively approached the food supply, sniffing it out, before plucking one of the berries and making it disappear into its mouth.

"Good Silkie," Starfire said, relieved to have found something to feed it. "You may consume your fill while I go fetch a new blankie." The alien girl hummed happily to herself as she picked off one of the curtains in front of her window, turning around in surprise when she heard a crashing sound behind. Upon doing so, she was shocked to see Silkie lying on the floor, or rather, that it had grown significantly in size. "My little bumgorf, why are you so big?" In response, it let out a loud burp, its mouth dripping with purple slobber. "The zorka berries must have caused you to mutate even further." She then picked up the giant worm and tried patting it on the pat on the back. "More burping now please. You must un-eat the berries and become small again before Cyborg, Raven and Gale come to search my-" The sound of someone knocking at her door pulled her from her thoughts. Quickly, she put down the giant worm, opened up the door and closed it behind her before the others could see any trace of her new pet.

"You look... happy," Gale commented, an intrigued look on her face.

"Friends!" she spoke up, smiling widely. "Is there something with which I can help you?"

Raven raised an eyebrow in question. "You're supposed to be helping us find our mysterious house guest."

"We've turned the tower upside down," Cyborg informed her. "Only place we haven't checked out yet is-"

"My room!" she jumped in. "... need not be searched. I have examined it thoroughly and can say that there is no sign of anything suspicious." Immediately after saying those words, Starfire's expression became nervous, due to the unusual sounds coming from within her room. The three other Titans looked at each other, then walked in, Raven phasing through the wall while Gale and Cyborg used the doorway, the latter with Starfire attached to his leg. "Please, you must not see my dwelling... in this condition." Starfire let go of Cyborg's leg and got up off the floor. "... It is very messy."

"This is messy?" Cyborg asked incredulously. "Girl, have you seen Beast Boy's room?"

"Soo... you and the curtains had some sort of argument?" Raven spoke up, looking at the curtains which weren't quite in a perfect state.

"Ohh... yes. Today is... Gorbgorb, the traditional Tamaranean festival of berating drapery. Stupid curtains!" She followed up her words by lashing out with her eyebeams and blowing a hole in the curtains, as well as the wall behind.

"How... interesting," Gale said.

"Well... there's nothing here," Cyborg stated. "Guess we'll have to split up and start the search all over again." He, Raven and Gale turned around and walked out of the alien girl's room.

"Your thinking is good!" Starfire said. "Please proceed. I shall join you shortly." Letting out a sigh of relief, she then went about her room, looking for the giant worm, until she picked up her bed and gasped in surprise upon seeing the gaping hole underneath.

* * *

By the time evening came around, Raven, Cyborg and Gale had still found no trace of the Tower's clandestine guest. The Titans' sorceress and air elemental found themselves both walking through the hallways towards the main room. "You find any trace of... whatever we're looking for?" the former asked.

"Nope. You?"

"Neither. I'm starting to think that this... thing, might be gone already." Just after saying that, they came into the main room, and stopped in their tracks. The reason for this being that in the middle, instead of the sofa, they saw only an empty space, with a few 'crumbs' left behind from that specific piece of furniture. "On second thought, maybe he decided to stick around." Gale held his chin in one hand, as he carried a pensive expression on his face. "You got any suggestions?"

"Maybe... I suppose I could try to... feel it out." Raven raised an eyebrow in question at this. "Most of the time, when I use my powers, I have to feel the air before seizing control. However, if I concentrate and don't actually do anything with it, I could be able to extend my senses far enough to detect any irregularities."

The young sorceress shrugged her shoulders at this. "It's as good an idea we've got right now."

Gale then sat crossed legged on the floor, placed his hands on his knees, closed his eyes and relaxed. This done, he allowed himself to feel all the air in the room, from that which floated aimlessly, to the air that moved with his and Raven's breathing. Extending his senses beyond the common room, he 'felt' the air in the hallways, their bedrooms, the stairways, and every nook and cranny from his level to the rooftop. Keeping track of what he already held in the back of his mind, Gale swept his senses downward, meticulously going over each floor before moving on to the next. Raven watched her friend without making a noise, her empathic abilities detecting in him nothing more than a deep calm.

He remained like this for some time, until he finally came out of his trance like state and opened up his eyes again. "Come on," he said, getting up and going back into the hall, Raven following behind. "There's something strange around one of the-" A masculine scream resounded through the tower, prompting them to move faster. "-storage rooms."

The two of them made their way to the spot the scream had come from, joining up with Robin and Beast Boy along the way. They blasted their way through the door when they got to it, and came upon the sight of Cyborg sitting on one of the boxes, with his left leg missing. Next to him, was a rather large white and pink worm that just so happened to have a metal leg sticking out of its mouth, until it swallowed the whole thing. "Aww man," Cyborg moaned, then became visibly angry, and hopped over to his friends on one foot, changing his arm into sonic cannon. "Gimme my foot so I can kick your butt!" Unfortunately, he then happened to lose his balance and fell back, shooting off a blast of sonic energy that hit the ceiling, causing a piece of it to come down on the worm's head.

Angered by this, the mutant creature growled and dived at the half metal teen. Beast Boy changed into a pterodactyl and carried him out of the way, while the others moved aside to avoid the raging insect thing. The creature spat out a blob of purple goo, which caught the two airborne Titans, causing them to crash onto the floor. Robin then jumped onto its head and grabbed its antennas, hanging on as it thrashed about, attempting to throw him off like a rodeo bull. He managed to stay on for a few seconds, until he lost his grip and went flying into a stack of crates.

Raven picked up a couple of crates with her powers and threw them towards the wild creature, just as Gale conjured and released a hard packed beam of wind. "No, stop!" Starfire cried out, putting herself in front of the attacks' target. The crates suddenly stopped in mid and dropped to the floor while the beam of wind simply dispersed. "Do not harm Silkie, he is my bumgorf!"

"Starfire?" Robin wondered.

"What's a bumgorf?" Raven inquired.

"That's Silkie?" Beast Boy spoke up. "Dude! What've you been feeding him?"

* * *

After fixing a collar and leash around Silkie's neck and dragging it to the main room, under the watchful eye of all six Titans, Starfire proceeded to explain exactly how everything had come to be. "True, Silkie may be a mutant monster created by the evil Killer Moth," Starfire said. "But that does not make him a bad mutant monster." Its eyes having been caught by the fridge, Silkie went over to it and dragged Starfire along.

"He attacked Cyborg," Raven reminded the alien girl.

"He ate my best leg," the cybernetic teen said, while he was busy fixing on another leg to replace his missing one.

"And I am sure he is very sorry." Starfire's words were slightly put off when Silkie took a large bite out of the fridge."

Robin then turned towards Beast Boy, an annoyed look on his face. "What?" the green boy replied. "I'm not the one who fed him radioactive space berries." The Titans' leader recoiled when the giant worm licked him, leaving a trail of slobber over his uniform.

"That... is gross," Gale commented.

"I'm sorry, Starfire," Robin said. "But he has to go."

* * *

A few days later, after evening had taken its place, all six Titans, minus Starfire, were gathered in the main room. After having been given the order by Robin, with a heavy heart, Starfire had flown away from the tower, carrying Silkie a good distance away and coming back alone. Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing a fighting video game, while Robin was busy typing at one of the computer consoles, attempting to find Johnny Rancid. As for Raven and Gale, the two were sitting across from each other at a table, with a chess board set up between them.

"Any luck yet, Robin?" Gale asked, at the same time that he moved a black rook forward, taking off one of Raven's pawns.

"I think I'm getting close, but I haven't found him yet," the Boy Wonder answered.

"Well alright then." Gale turned his attention back to the board, in time to see a white bishop slide back and take the rook he'd just moved.

"You should pay more attention," Raven pointed out.

"All part of the plan. Just you worry about yourself." The winged boy then picked up his queen and moved it forward and right, putting it in line with Raven's king. "Check."

"Not for long." Raven responded by moving her own queen and taking off Gale's.

"I got it!" Robin spoke up again. "I've found Johnny!"

"Guess we'll finish this later," the Titans' sorceress said.

"Actually..." Gale quickly moved one of his bishops so that it threatened Raven's king. "Checkmate."

Raven looked at the board for a second, seeing that all paths for retreat were effectively cut off. "Nice move. Now let's go."

* * *

In the middle of one of Jump City's streets, there was a pile of wrecked cars, on top of which Johnny Rancid was standing triumphantly and laughing at the same time. In his hands, he was holding a chain that trailed behind. His celebrating was interrupted by the arrival of Jump City's defenders. "Trust me, Johnny," Robin spoke. "This won't seem funny when you're paying for it in jail."

Rancid turned around to face the six Titans assembled against him. "You're the one who's gonna pay, bird boy. You losers trashed my dog, so I went out and got me a monster." The villain pulled on the chain in his hands, at which whatever was on the other end started to move, causing a slight tremor.

"Silkie?" Starfire wondered.

A large, gray metal robot came down from a side street. It was shaped like a giant dinosaur, standing on two legs, but with no arms and with a head like Rancid's previous pet. "Say hello to Rexzilla." Its chest plate then split in two and slid apart, revealing a tray of guns. "Destroy," Johnny ordered, pointing to the Titans. The Godzilla like monster started to move forward, but suddenly and unexpectedly, a giant moth swooped in, picked it up in its mouth, flung it in the air and swallowed it whole, along with Rancid.

"Silkie!" Starfire cried out, seeing the collar she'd placed around the creature's neck.

"His name is Larva M319." The one having spoken those words turned out to be a man standing on Silkie's back, holding a chain leash in one hand and a fiery whip in another, all while dressed in a gray and black moth suit. This individual was of course, none other than Killer Moth. "He belongs to me, Killer Moth!"

"Isn't that the guy who forced you to take his daughter Kitten to prom?" Gale asked Robin.

"How do you know about that?"

"Beast Boy told me."

The Boy Wonder slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand, at the same time as he glared at the Titans' shape-shifter, who gave a slight nervous laugh. This moment was broken up when Killer Moth cracked his whip, prompting the giant mutated insect to fly at the Titans. The teenage heroes scattered out of the way, with the exception of Starfire, who merely stood there, watching her former pet as came down at her. Before it could collide with her, Robin lunged at the alien girl, carrying her out of harm's way as the giant moth flew past. "I must say, you took excellent care of M319," the insect villain said as he was staring down at the Titans. "What have you been feeding him?"

"He is called Silkie," Starfire shot back.

"I created him, I tracked him down, I'll call him whatever I please! And as for food, I guess I'll just have to feed him you!" At the crack of a whip, Silkie went diving down after them again, spitting out large globs of purple substance, which the Titans didn't stick around to find out what it was. Beast Boy changed into a pterodactyl and flew up with Cyborg on his back, chasing with giant moth and its master.

"You like my leg?" Cyborg called out as he came closer to the villain and his pet, sonic cannon armed and ready. "Well chew on this!" He then fired at their enemy, who ducked to one side, and another, effectively dodging his attacks, even if one came close to Killer Moth's head. Beast Boy turned hard after passing the giant moth, coming around for another run, though he and Cyborg were soon caught by a glob of purple goo from the insect's mouth. The two of them started to fall down following this, Beast Boy in his usual form. Fortunately, Gale happened to dive down and catch them, spreading his wings wide and thickening the air underneath to soften their landing.

As this was happening, the giant moth flew by a skyscraper that Raven was hiding around the corner. Using her powers, she picked up a nearby bus and threw it against the giant moth, pinning it against one of the opposite buildings. "Fly, you worthless maggot!" Killer Moth commanded, cracking his whip. "Fly!"

"Starfire, now," Raven spoke up as she strained to keep the villain and his pet trapped in place. The Tamaranian girl hovered in place behind her friend, a starbolt covering each hand, but a hesitant look on her face as she looked at Silkie. Images of the insect in its wormlike form came to mind, at which the starbolts faded away. Taking advantage of this, Killer Moth lashed out with his whip, wrapping the end around Raven's hands. The Titans' sorceress cried out in pain as electricity coursed through her body, breaking her concentration, causing the bus and herself to fall down.

On the street below, Gale, Cyborg and Beast Boy were just getting to their feet, when Raven just so happened to crash into her winged teammate, both of them falling down. A second later, after coming to their senses, the two Titans took note of the awkward position they were in, Raven lying on top of her friend. "Uhh, Raven?" Gale spoke up, a light blush tinting his cheeks. "Could you get off, please?"

"Uhh... yeah," she responded with a blush, getting up quickly and allowing him to do the same.

A short way from this, Robin was running atop one of the skyscrapers, keeping up with the giant moth. Arriving at the edge, he jumped off as hard as he could, then fired off his grappling hook, the end wrapping around one of Silkie's back legs. He ran against the side of another building for a second, then kicked off and landed on Silkie's back. Wasting little time, he quickly ran towards the villain, who turned around, only to have the Boy Wonder's boot catch him in the chest. Having dropped his whip, Killer Moth ran forward, engaging Robin in close quarters combat. They traded a few punches and kicks, neither landing a blow, until Robin struck the villain's stomach with his fist.

He then spun around and lashed out with his foot, but Killer Moth caught the limb in question and flipped him back. He reached down and picked up Robin in his hands, holding up as if he was going to throw him off. However, the teenage hero was still able to grab a hold of his adversary's head and pull, causing both of them to land on a rooftop and skid apart. Robin drew a combat staff from his belt and jumped over the charging villain, whose wings started to beat frantically, allowing him to take to the air. Unfortunately, just as Robin turned around, but before he was able to mount some sort of offense, he suddenly found himself being trapped in a steady stream of purple goo extending from Silkie's mouth. Restrained as he was, Robin tumbled helplessly off the edge, falling to the street below, only to have a green pterodactyl catch and drop him safely into Cyborg's arms.

"Robin!" Starfire exclaimed. "I must help my friends... even if it means harming my Silkie." Eyes ablaze with righteous fury, Starfire flew up and summoned her powers, forming a single starbolt which she released at the insect like villain, pitching him off his pet. Although, as he fell, he cracked his whip, wrapping the end around Starfire's ankle, slowing his fall and dragging her down as well. Silkie then chose to flutter down and land in between Killer Moth and the alien girl.

"M319, come," the formed said.

"No, Silkie," Starfire protested. "He is evil. You belong with your kanorfka, you belong with me." The giant insect looked from one, to the other, uncertainty on its face. "Here Silkie, Silkie. Here my sweet little mutant."

"Umm... here Larva M319," Killer Moth spoke up. "Come to... papa."

"Oh Siiilkie, Starfire has a big hug for you."

"Hey, big fella. Did Killer Moth create you in a lab? Yes he did, yes he did."

The other Titans merely stood off to the side and watched as Silkie continued to look from one to the other as they kept trying to persuade it to join them. After a moment of this, it started to shake its head, then simply exploded, splattering all of them with the same goo it had been previously spitting out. In its place, now was a large mound of purple substance vaguely sized like the giant moth. Johnny Rancid then happened to crawl out from under a blob, half getting to his feet. "I got eaten..."

"Oh goodie, you're still conscious," Gale said, cracking his knuckles. The villain took one look at the winged boy, before his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he passed out. "... Or not."

"Sweet, my leg!" Cyborg exclaimed as he found his missing leg in a pile of goo.

Starfire, for her part stood still, almost breaking into tears, until they all heard a crying sound coming from somewhere in the purple substance. "Silkie?" She dived into the mass of goo, then came out holding the white smiling worm, joy obvious on her face. "Oh, hello my little bumgorf."

"He wasn't mutating," Beast Boy noted. "He was just... molting."

"Fascenating..." Raven said, sarcasm obvious in her voice. "Can we go home now? I need a shower, in the worst way."

Starfire looked at Robin, making cute puppy dog eyes at him, in front of which he found himself unable to turn her down. "Alright, he can stay, as long as you don't give him anymore alien food."

"But... I do not know what else to feed him." Silkie decided to answer this by jumping out of her arms and walking over to the mass of purple stuff, and starting to gobble it down. Seeing this, Starfire picked up a little and ate it, letting out a gasp of delight, before jumping into the pile, grossing out the other Titans.

"Shouln't we... maybe try to stop her?" Robin asked.

"That stuff's gotta get cleaned up somehow," Cyborg answered, holding a pair of tied up villains onto a green horse's back. "And by the way..." he began, looking at Raven and Gale with a widespread grin plastered on his face.

"What're you smiling about?" Gale asked, suspicions seeping into his voice.

"Just the fact that you two looked like you were pretty-"

"Not one word," Raven said sternly.

"What're you guys talking about?" Robin inquired.

"Nothing!" Raven and Gale both said at the same time. Robin merely blinked in confusion, but shrugged his shoulders and chose to set it aside.

* * *

So, hope you liked it and sorry for the wait. Anyway, I won't be doing a chapter for the episode when Mumbo sucks them into his hat (because I thinks it'd be too complicated to work out), and I was wondering if I should just skip straight to the part when Cyborg goes to Steel City to help out the Titans East, or if I should stick in a different chapter first. What do you all think?

**Gale: I think that you have a tendency to embarass people, as in me and Raven.**

**Me: Well duh.**

**Raven: Did the last 'moment' really have to be that awkward?**

**Me: Why? Did you need me to take it further already? I didn't think you were going to jump all over Gale right away.**

**(Raven's eye twitching, looks like she's possibly angry, and embarrassed. Gale is in a similar state, except with more embarrassment than anger.)**

**Me: Hey Gale, you look as if you'd really like the idea.**

**Gale: Raven, you mind if I beat him up a little?**

**Raven: Just leave some for me when you're done.**

**(Gale materializes a hammer in his hands and advances towards me.)**

**Me: No need for violence... MORE NEED FOR ESCAPE! (runs away like hell itself is chasing)  
**


	17. Titans East  Part 1

Disclaimer: Too tired to do anything special, so put simply, I don't own the Teen Titans.

On a side note, I seriously cannot believe it took me this long to finish. I kept getting repeatedly distracted, and even when I was working on this I was only making little jumps in progress. So, after the next chapter, I'll be taking a little break. Enjoy!

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Titans East – Part 1**

Down towards the eastern coast of the United States of America, lay the great metropolis known as Steel City. This particular place was highly industrialized, as its name might suggest, though a mere glance was more than enough to confirm it. Rows upon rows of factories, processing plants and other such buildings were packed together, belching numerous plumes of smoke, fire and debris to gush into the air. On the outskirts, a man dressed in a long white robe, with a black and yellow shoulder piece was sweeping his gaze over the city. He was none other than the headmaster of HIVE Academy, otherwise known as Brother Blood.

"Steel City," he muttered to himself. "Bitter cold, stinging winds, and… the pungent smell of decay. My kind of town." He shivered a little bit as a result of the cold, turning around to face a multitude of figures all wearing identical darkish purple robes with hoods that effectively kept everything about them hidden. "Ever since my schools were regrettably destroyed, I've been seeking a new home sweet home for my precious HIVE Academy."

He walked over to a different figure, this one twice his height. And although he had a human face, he was covered in dull yellow and black armor, with notably wide arms and also had chains keeping him in place. "And here we are, which is where you come in, Mr. Steamroller," he addressed the giant, who growled in response and struggled against the chains, but to no effect. "After all, what good is a school without students?" The villain's eyes then became blood red, causing Steamroller's eyes to do the same as he kneeled down.

"You're going to help me recruit a new class," he said in a satisfied tone of voice. "Starting with a former student of mine. The one who destroyed my academy, the one who got away."

* * *

At the moment, all the Titans, minus Cyborg, were located in the main room. Raven and Gale were sitting on the couch, while Robin, Beast Boy and Starfire were standing in front of the television screen, which was currently blank. "Robin calling Cyborg," the Titans' leader spoke towards the screen. "Robin calling Cyborg."

"What's shaking?" Cyborg said as his face came up, showing him inside the T-Car, driving along somewhere by himself.

"Hello friend who I am missing already," Starfire squealed. "The sight of you makes my eyes sore."

"It's been totally lame here without you," Beast Boy stated. "Raven stinks at video games. It's like she isn't even trying."

"Just because you glued the controller to my hands, it doesn't mean I wanna play," the gothic girl stated, holding up her hands, which had the controller stuck to them. Beast Boy then had the audacity to laugh at this, though his laughter was cut short when an obsidian claw grabbed his boxers and gave him a wedgie.

"Nice one," Gale commented to Raven, grinning at the changeling's predicament.

"Thank you," she replied, using her powers to take the controller out of her hands.

"So, how goes the cross country trip?" Robin asked their half metal friend.

"Just dandy. It's like 80 below, the hail's messing up my paint job, and WHY DID I VOLUNTEER FOR THIS!"

"Because after Brother Blood stole your blueprints and used them to attack us, Aqualad and Bumblebee tracked him to Steel City," Beast Boy began. "So now they're starting up the Titans East to take im down. And you're heading out to help the new team set up their tower."

"The Titans East are going to need your technical expertise," Robin added.

"Yeah. And maybe if I stick around long enough, I might get another chance to bring down Blood… personally."

"And even if you do not, a little time away from home might do you some good," Starfire pitched in. "As you have been somewhat… lobstery lately." Cyborg looked at the alien girl with confusion on his face.

"I think she means crabby," Raven explained.

"Besides, someone needs to show these copycats what being a Titan is all about," Beat Boy said, flexing his arms in an attempt to appear somewhat muscular, and pretty much failing. Gale scoffed at the green teenager's actions, then raised a hand and twirled his index finger, at which coils of air appeared around Beast Boy's legs, causing him to fall down in a comical fashion.

"Nice one," the Titans' sorceress commented, smiling in amusement.

"Thank you," he replied, a similar smirk on his face as well.

"Anyway…" Robin spoke up. "Good luck with everything, and feel free to call us if anything big happens."

"I'll keep that in mind. Cyborg out."

* * *

Sometime after Cyborg had finished talking with the other Titans, he happened to drive over a bridge, and turned a sharp right at the end, going off road and towards the water. The reason for this became apparent when the T-Car jumped up, the tires angled so that they were parallel to the ground and rockets came out from the sides. With propulsion coming from the rear, Cyborg hovered/flew over the water, moving along smoothly, until he came close to a large 'T' shaped building set against a cliff wall. "Ooookay, maybe they already know the important stuff about being Titans," Cyborg commented to himself, remarking how similar it was with Titans Tower.

Regardless of such, the half metal teenage drove over to the island on which it was located and stationed his car next to the tower. He then took out a tool box, walked over to the door and knocked, the not so considerable impact causing it to fall down. Cyborg walked into a darkish room that looked like the basement in Titans Tower, except that there were wires dangling from the ceiling, pieces missing from the walls, and piles of junk simply lying on the floor with no organization. "Place looked better from the outside. But nothing a little elbow grease can't fix." As if to mock his words, a panel next to the doorway suddenly exploded, shooting past his head. "On second thought, make that a truckload of elbow grease."

Cyborg continued on his way through the tower, pausing for a moment at a pair of elevator doors, before deciding that it would be safer to take the stairs. A short while later, he came up to the main level, walked down the hallway for a bit, then came to the common room, where he found Aqualad, Bumblebee, the archer Speedy, and a pair of short twins all huddled together and arguing loudly. At the sound of him clearing his throat, they all turned around and Aqualad went up to greet him. "Cyborg, thanks for coming," he said as he bumped fists with the half metal teen. "Say hello to the Titans East."

One of the twins then hopped onto his brother's shoulders, at which the both of them suddenly zoomed forward and almost seemingly appeared in front of Cyborg. With them so close, he could see that they were both dressed in white suits with red around their boots, wrists, the sides of the heads, and wore yellow visors. The most notable difference was that one had a plus symbol on his chest, while the other's was a minus. "Hola señor. Cómo estás? Nuestros nombres son MayY Menos. Somos gemelos que puede correr muy, muy rápido cuando estamos tocando. Mira como se demuestra a qué tan rápido se puede mover." They then zoomed off for a split second and returned with a photo showing both of them standing in front of an ancient looking pyramid. "Somos de Guatemala."

"They go really fast, but only when they're touching," Aqualad explained. "And they only speak Spanish."

"Hola, my amigo soy nombre el Cyborgo," the cybernetic titan spoke to the twins.

"And of course, you already know Speedy and Bumblebee." The red suited archer merely looked in Cyborg's direction and gave a half hearted greeting.

"Hey Sparky. Welcome aboard the happy train. We're having loads of fun," the only female Titan said with sarcasm obvious in her voice.

"Rough day," the water elemental admitted.

"Then how about I get to work and smooth things out?"

* * *

The following day, back in Jump City, the Titans were enjoying a time of peace, as there hadn't been anything to set off the alarm since Cyborg had left. Starfire was in the kitchen area, concocting some strange delicacy from her home planet, while Beast Boy was sitting on the couch and watching the TV by himself. Raven and Gale were both sitting on small, circular platforms hovering in mid-air, one black and the other transparent. The former was quietly reading a book, while the latter had a hand brush put together with his powers, and was passing it over his feathered wings. For his part, Robin was somewhere outside of the common room.

The four present Titans went along with their own activities in relative silence, until Gale finished cleaning his feathers. "Hey Raven," he spoke up when he was done, allowing the air which formed his brush to return to its natural state.

"Hmm… what is it?" the young sorceress said as she set down her book and looked at her winged friend.

"I'm gonna go outside for a while. Wanna come with me?" Raven had a pensive expression on her face as she thought things over. "It's a nice day for flying," he added.

"Sure, why not? It sounds like fun."

The two teenagers in question lowered themselves to the floor and then walked out of the room. Beast Boy, who had taken his attention away from the television, looked at the pair until the doors closed behind them, at which a widespread grin suddenly developed on his face. "Hey Starfire, have you noticed how Raven and Gale seem to get along really well?"

"Yes I have," the alien girl responded. "Perhaps it may be because of how much alike they are."

"Yeah… well I'm thinking that there's more to them then just that." The Tamaranian girl merely blinked in confusion. "You know that time when we were getting away from Brother Blood's underwater base? When Gale made that little bubble of air for himself and Raven?"

"Yes."

"Then there's the fact that whenever one of them is feeling down, it's always the other who'll cheer em up."

"Like how Raven helped Gale come to terms with the death of his mother, and when he aided her in recovering from Malchior's betrayal?"

"Exactly. And you should've seen how they looked when Raven fell on top of him during our last fight with Killer Moth."

"Ohhhh… Are you suggesting that our friends may have a romantic interest in one another?"

"I'm sure there's something going on between the two of them. We just need to help them realize it."

"How do you propose we do this?"

"Well…"

* * *

With hours of work set behind them, the Titans East's Tower had already seen notable improvements. The main room was no longer quite as cluttered as it was before, much of the walls were covered and the finishing touches to the security system had been put it. That done, Cyborg placed his hand over a scanner on the wall near the door, at which a computerized voice announced that the system was operational. Mas and Menos, who were painting on one of the ledges, dropped their brushes and paint buckets, before zooming down to the floor to congratulate Cyborg for his achievement.

Unfortunately, one of the paint buckets fell down onto Speedy's head, who, being now unable to see, stepped on the second paint container, putting him in a position that compromised his balance. The incident might not have been so serious, if it weren't for the fact that he was holding a large nail gun in both hands, the impromptu shift causing him to shoot away blindly. Bumblebee shrunk in size and flew away to avoid the menace, while Cyborg, Mas and Menos were at a safe distance. As for Aqualad, just before the raging nail gun turned towards him, he reached out for the water contained in one of the pools in the center of the room, commanding it to form a shield in front of himself. When the barrage was over, the shield of water looked like a blue pincushion. Silence reigned amongst them for a moment, before everyone, minus Cyborg, exploded into a rather vocal argument.

"Guys?" Cyborg spoke up tentatively, causing no change in pace. "Guys?" Irritated by their behavior, he breathed in, then… "ENOUGH!" The other instantly shut up at this. "The problem isn't your tower, it's your team. I know a few things about working together, and-" Cyborg's attention was diverted when a small beeping sound came from his arm. "Trouble," he announced. "I hope you guys can find a way to work as a team."

* * *

Some distance from the tower being built, there was one out of quite a few of Steel City's foundries. For the most part, workers outfitted in dim yellow suits and gray helmets were going about their usual business. That is, until one of the wide square room's walls exploded inward, kicking up a cloud of dust and debris. When the surrounding were visible once again, they could all see Steamroller's imposing figure, glaring at them with red eyes. The workers immediately ran away in panic as he raised his arms menacingly. A couple of mild electric shocks hit him in the back, prompting him to turn around. Standing in front of the entrance, were Cyborg, Aqualad, Mas, Menos, Speedy and Bumblebee, the latter two with their weapons out. "Congratulations," the dark skinned girl spoke up. "You're the first low-life to get busted by the Titans E-" She was interrupted when the Guatemalan twins zoomed past her, followed by Speedy and Aqualad, Cyborg's palm met with his face upon seeing this.

Mas and Menos ran forward and stopped in front of the villain, taking a split second to taunt him, before zooming off to avoid his bulky arms. They repeated this procedure a few times, continuously avoiding his strikes, then jumped onto one of his arms and stuck out their tongues at him. When he swung his arm again, they ran away safely, but Bumblebee was unfortunate enough to have come up behind them and was hit in their place. While the twins were running circles around him, Aqualad extended each of his hands towards a separate pipe, pulling out the water inside and forming a blue orb over his head. At the same time as he was doing this, Speedy, who was up on a walkway, put himself in line with their opponent and put three arrows to his bow. Both attacks were released at the same time, but missed Steamroller when he leaned to the side. The water orb threw Speedy from his perch, while Aqualad was knocked off his feet by the incoming arrows.

With the twins still running circles around Steamroller, he finally had the idea to raise his foot and bring it down hard, upsetting their balance and causing them to fly back towards the entrance. He then turned his attention towards Cyborg, who was momentarily in the air, about to come down with a hard punch. The villain retaliated by swinging one of his huge arms, causing Cyborg to crash into the floor. Just as the half metal teen was prying himself off the floor, Steamroller put his arms together and pinned him down, while a small wire snaked its way from his shoulder and latched itself onto Cyborg's back.

"Get off my back!" Cyborg warned the villain, then followed up by flipping his arm around and unleashing a shot from his sonic cannon. The villain was blasted off his feet and flew a ways back, bringing down the walkway as he fell. The Titans chose that time to regroup at the entrance, and the Guatemalan twins went on a rant, complaining about their team's performance from the looks of it.

"Hate to say it, but Sparky was right," Bumblebee admitted. "We're not working like a team."

"We are now," Cyborg said as their opponent got to his feet again. "Follow my lead. Titans, together! Speedy, Bee, push him back!" Bumblebee shrunk and stood on one of Speedy's arrows, which he then fired. The dark skinned girl regained her normal size before kicking off Steamroller and shooting a series of electric shocks from her 'stingers', forcing him back so that he tripped over the walkway. "Double M, heat him up." Mas and Menos suddenly took off towards a pit of red and very hot substance, spinning around fast enough so that they were able to draw it out, then dump it on Steamroller. "Aqualad, cool him down." The elemental titan raised his hands and swung them forward, pulling up a pair of large pipes from underground and sending the water crashing against Steamroller, instantly cooling down the stuff surrounding him, effectively keeping him trapped. "Booyah!"

"Alright!"

"Way to go!"

"Who says we're not a team?"

"Titans East rule!"

"Que fue muy divertido!"

While the Titans were busy cheering, they didn't notice the little smirk on Steamroller's face, nor did they see the small red dot blinking on the side of his neck.

* * *

After having spent a good amount of time outside together, Raven and Gale finally returned to the tower. "So…" the winged boy spoke up as they touched down on the rooftop. "Was it fun, or what?"

"Yes, very. I've never really done flying like that. And to tell you the truth, it was pretty exciting." Raven turned her head towards her friend and smiled warmly. "You're a really great flyer, you know that?"

"Thanks," Gale replied. "You were looking pretty good out there yourself."

A slight tinge of red came over Raven's cheeks, though it went unnoticed by her eagle eyed friend. "Thanks," she muttered in return. The two of them continued walking through the hallway, making idle conversation along the way. When they reached the common room, they found Beast Boy and Starfire both in the kitchen this time. Apparently the green teenager and alien girl were trying to make a pie, with moderate success.

"Ah, there you are," Beast Boy greeted them in his usual friendly manner.

"Please, tell me friends," Starfire spoke up. "How was your date?"

Gale and Raven's faces suddenly became bright red. "W-What? D-date?" the young sorceress stuttered. "It wasn't anything like that!"

"It wasn't a date, we only went flying, nothing more!" the winged boy quickly added.

"Though not entirely familiar with your earthly ways, I was under the impression that a boy and girl with an interest in one another who 'went out' would be on a 'date'. Am I not correct?"

Raven and Gale somehow managed to blush even further. Robin then happened to walk into the room at the moment. "Hey guys," he called out to his friends, pausing for a moment when he saw the state that Raven and Gale were in. "Your faces are all red. Is something wrong?"

"NO!" they said at the same time.

The Titans' leader had a confused look on his face, wondering exactly what the situation was. He was pulled from his musing when a nearby terminal computer started to beep. "Chang broke out," Robin spoke up after typing at the keyboard for a brief moment. "We'd better call Cyborg."

* * *

Back in Steel City, the Titans there present were practically finished with the common room, and most of the tower. After putting together the table, which was round and had a large 'T' across, along with the chairs, they finally took a moment to look over at all they'd done. "Would you look at that, we actually finished," Speedy remarked.

"We couldn't have done it without you," Aqualad said to Cyborg.

"Wait a sec, there's something I almost forgot." The cybernetic teen pressed a button on his arm, at which a disco ball descended from the ceiling at the same time as music started to play.

"Disco lights?" Bumblebee spoke up.

"Robin never would let me install them in our tower. Well… what're yall waiting for? It's party time!" However, their celebration was cut short before it even started, when a message from the original Titans pulled him away. "Hey Robin."

"How're things over at your end?"

"It's going great!" Cyborg replied, stepping out into the hallway, although the others were still standing on the balcony area and listening in. "The tower's up, we took our first bad guy down and we're all set to start looking for Brother Blood."

"Good, then you can head home."

"Huh? But-"

"They'll have to find Blood without you. Professor Chang has just escaped from prison. We need you back here. Robin out."

* * *

After packing up his tool kit, along with a few other things he'd brought along, Cyborg went back down to the garage area where the T-Car was parked. Mas and Menos had latched themselves onto his legs, pleading for him to stay, though he merely picked them up and set them on the floor. "Wish I could hang around guys, but they need me back home."

He put away his stuff in the trunk, then opened the driver's door and was about to step in, when Speedy put a hand on his shoulder. "We need you here too."

"We took a vote," Aqualad began. "And we'd like you to stay, as leader of Titans East."

"Leader? Me?" Cyborg questioned. "Are you serious?"

"Don't get all mushy on us," Bumblebee spoke up. "Do you want the job or not?"

"I.. don't know what to-" Cyborg interrupted himself when the doors suddenly closed, leaving in a darker room than before. "Security's down," he noted after checking on his arm. "We're locked in. Must a glitch in the encryption keys."

"This looks like it's more than just a glitch," Bumblebee remarked. The six of them turned around and saw a horde of mysterious figures almost coming out of nowhere, all of them wearing deep purple robes that showed nothing.

"Titans, Go!" Cyborg called out, before they all jumped into action. With their super speed, Mas and Menos were the first to make contact with the enemy, simply plowing through and sending a bunch of them flying in the air, while a few others were knocked down with a series of acrobatic maneuvers. As for Cyborg, he mostly used his strength to punch the mystery invaders, then changed his arm into sonic cannon mode and downed another pair with a well placed shot.

In retaliation, one of the cloaked figures lifted up an arm and pointed it at the cybernetic teen, showing a build up of blue energy similar to when Cyborg was about to fire a shot from his sonic cannon. Surprised at the similarity to himself, Cyborg was hit by the beam of sonic energy, which sent him crashing into a group of the cloaked figures. Seeing this, Aqualad ran towards the one who'd fired the shot, dodging the continuing assault. When he got close enough, he kicked it in the knee, only to end up grabbing his foot in pain. "Who are these guys?" he asked no one in particular.

A pair of electric shocks zapped the figure who was about to fire at him again, immobilizing it. "One way to find out," Bumblebee said, then pulled off its robe. To their surprise, it was, simply stated, a fully robotic version of Cyborg, safe that it was gold, black and light brown, instead of blue, brown and white, and also had an 'H' in the center of its chest. The secret revealed, all the other figures shed their robes as well, revealing a slew of identical robots. "They're... you," Speedy remarked as they all stood back to back.

"No they're not!" Cyborg said angrily, getting up and punching one of the robots hard enough that it split in two, taking down another in the process. "Titans, move!" that said, the six of them immediately started moving towards the inside end of the tower, Speedy providing cover fire while the others carved a path through the robots in their way, blowing a hole in a wall and continuing on until reaching a circular room with six corridors attached. "Alright, we have to get to ops and change the encryption keys, reset the security system."

Aqualad, Speedy and Bumblebee then went to go down a different corridor, but turned around when they realized this. "I thought ops was that way," Aqualad said, pointing down the corridor he'd meant to go.

"One of us must be right," Bumblebee said. "Let's split up and someone'll get there." A slew of robots came down the hallway the Titans had come from, along with a gang of equal size from a different one.

"There's too many, we can't win!" Speedy added.

"Yes we can!" Cyborg said firmly. "We'll get through this things if we just stick together as a-" He interrupted himself mid-speech when the others all ran away in separate directions. "... team." Shouting a battle cry, Cyborg charged forward and started making his way through one of the hordes of robots.

* * *

Over at his end, Speedy was running down one of the hallways with an incomplete roof, chased by a half dozen robots. Quickly putting an arrow to his bow, he turned his upper body around and loosed, cutting the rope that held a stack of tiles, crushing three robots. Another he downed by pulling out an arrow and hitting it in the head. The last two he finished off when he bounced off a pile of metal plates and hopped onto one of the beams, turning around at the same time and fitting another arrow. When he loosed, it cut through the two mid-air robots, separating them both at the waist.

Admiring his handiwork for a second ended up costing him, as yet another robot jumped up on the beams behind and fired a shot from its sonic cannon. Despite being fast enough to turn around and shoot off an arrow at his opponent, he was still caught in the chest and knocked off his perch, landing a short ways in front of another group. Forgoing offense for the moment, he quickly got to his feet and started running away again.

* * *

In another section of the tower, Mas and Menos had their hands gripped tightly and were zooming along at their usual high speed. One group of 8 robots were standing in front of the twins. The first two were downed when the twins stood between them and instantly moved away, causing the hivebots to blow each other up. As for the other 6, they were taken care of with a series of acrobatic moves, along the lines of slamming into them hard enough so that they'd fly into the air, then jumping up and landing on them with enough strength to take them down.

With another group approaching from behind, Mas and Menos Sped down the corridor and, given that yet another group was marching from the right end, they turned a sharp left. However, they were both forced to dig in their heels and come to a stop in order to avoid colliding with a large troop. Taking a slight moment to examine the situation they were in, they said but one word "Mierda."

* * *

Again, in a different section of the tower, Aqualad was being hounded by about ten robots. As he was running through the hallways, he spotted a mop lying against the wall, with the business end sitting in a bucket full of water. Reaching out with his powers as he kept moving, he pulled out every drop of water and formed a pair of projectiles loosely resembling artillery shells. Then, without looking behind, he shot them back, taking two heads clean off. The remaining hivebots retaliated with sonic cannon fire, one of the blasts catching him in the back and slamming him into a wall.

Grunting a little in pain at the impact, the water elemental turned around to face his assailants. His senses taking note of the water pipes running through the wall behind him, he grinned for a second, before thrusting out his right hand, causing the pipes to burst through the wall. A powerful jet of water erupted from behind him, effectively destroying the rest of the robots, before the flow was reduced to a trickle, the floor now quite wet. But, soon after this happened, a full dozen robots came around a corner.

Getting to his feet, he stood at the ready as they approached, when a strange vision assailed him. For a brief moment, he could see the dim figure of a man with a deep blue aura, who appeared to have a bit of an elongated head, fin blades on his arms, and long wavy hair. The man held out a hand, and a flow of water rose from underneath and formed a long handled weapon.

Returning from the split second flash, Aqualad looked down at the water lying all about the floor. "Don't know what all that was, but it's worth a try." Then, like the man in his vision, he held out his hand, and the water below rose up and shaped itself so that he was now holding a fearsome three-pronged trident. "Now then, let's continue," the elemental Titan said, before jumping into battle once more.

* * *

Within the common room, a dozen robots were spread out in various position, with a pair of them standing in front of the door below the balcony area. Their heads turned in the door's direction when they heard a strange sound, but a mere half second later, a sonic cannon shot tore through the door and the two guards. When the smoke cleared, the others could see Cyborg standing in the hallway, before he charged at them.

Shifting his arm back to normal, he punched through one's waist section, then delivered a fierce uppercut to another, then grabbing one coming up from behind, slamming him into the ground, and stepping on its neck with enough power to behead it. Shifting his arm again, he swept it in a semi-circle, cutting another three in half. Then with both fists, he proceeded to pummel his remaining opponents to pieces, a few of whom ended up in one of the pools. "Sorry fellas, but you're nothing compared to the original."

"I couldn't agree more." Cyborg turned around upon hearing the new voice and looked up, seeing Brother Blood standing at the edge of the balcony and looking down at him. "My old student Cyborg… welcome to the new HIVE Academy. You do owe me a headquarters, remember?"

"The only thing I owe you is a case of canned butt whoop!" the cybernetic teen replied angrily.

"School is in session, and here's lesson number one: NO ONE DEFIES BROTHER BLOOD!" The HIVE headmaster then shed his robe, wearing his red, gray and black outfit underneath. Cyborg jumped back to avoid his falling kick, but was promptly forced back with a palm strike. Blood merely smirked as he moved his head to the side, avoiding Cyborg's sonic cannon fire, then easily dodging his punches when he charged in, before grabbing his arm and sending him flying into the wall. "Well…" the villain said as he made his way around one of the pools. "I can tell someone hasn't studied since our last little… pop quiz. You're still as predictable as ever."

"How'd you build those second rate tin men?" Cyborg demanded as he got to his feet. "You stole my blueprints, but we stole em back!"

"Did you really think that someone with my mental abilities wouldn't have a photographic memory? Please… your secrets are all in here," Blood said as he pointed to his head. He then ran towards the cybernetic teen, who swung his arm, but missed as he jumped over his head and hit him with a palm strike that sent him flying back again. "And just wait until you see what I really have in mind for you."

* * *

Back with Mas and Menos, the Guatemalan twins had been running away from a sizeable band of robots for some time now, using their super speed to remain one step away of their pursuers. Finally they came to an empty room, and, turning on the light, they found a bunch of wrenches, hammers, power tools and other such things. Standing on his brother's shoulders, Mas grabbed a longer cordless gun shaped tool, with Menos picked a pair of smaller ones. They stepped out the door, nodded to each other, and were off.

Going at their usual elevated speed, the twins pounced on the first robot they saw, working their power tools, and in merely a second, it had already fallen to pieces. The next one was taken apart soon after, and the third and fourth. The fifth managed to shift his arm into sonic cannon mode, but noticing this, the tiny twins jumped at him with their tools, then moved away a split second after, their 'repairs' causing the pent up energy to shoot back and blast it instead.

With their improvised method of fighting, Mas and Menos took apart the band in the first hallway soon enough, then moved on to the next and took them apart as well. Unfortunately, just as they turned a corner, a robot at the end of the hall took notice of them and shot out his fist, which crashed at their feet, causing them to trip and fall apart from each other. With the two in this state, they were powerless to prevent the robots from picking them up and marching off.

* * *

Over at his end, Speedy was holding his own quite well against the robots advancing on him. A trio of them ran towards the skilled archer, who was standing on a ledge in a wide spaced room, only to be shot down one after the other. Another three moved up behind them, and in a matter of seconds, were turned into metal pincushions. Attempting to attack from a distance, a different one shifted its arm into a sonic cannon, aimed… and was about to fire when an arrow planted itself into the cannon's open mouth, the backlash of energy destroying it and a few other robots that were unfortunate enough to be close by.

Some of the others managed to shift their arms and open fire, forcing Speedy to move away from his position. Shooting as he ran, he then jumped off the ledge, pulled out three arrows, fitted them to his bow, twisted himself around, and fired. The arrows all found their mark directly in the 'H' crest on one of the different robots. "Come on, is that the best you can do?" Speedy taunted, continuing to draw and shoot arrows as he walked back away from his enemies. "You rust buckets haven't laid a hand on me yet." The red suited archer was forced to eat his words when a large metal hand shot out from the wall behind and grabbed his arm. "First time for everything," he said with dismay.

* * *

And as for Bumblebee, she was currently engaged in a battle of her own, flying through one of the tower's many hallways and dodging a flurry of sonic cannon fire, and retaliating with electric shocks when she had the chance. A trio of robots shot out at the dark skinned girl, who merely adjusted her flight path a little, the blue beams harmlessly passing next to her, and promptly knocked them down with a couple shots from her stingers. "The real Cyborg couldn't take me," she said as she landed on one of the fallen hivebots, jumping off when another fired, destroying its companion instead. "So you knock offs don't stand a chance."

Shrinking in size, Bumblebee flew in the midst of the robots, mostly letting them destroy each other when they kept missing her, but still taking out a few by shooting in critical places. She managed to keep up this pace for a bit, even blowing up a few heads, but unfortunately for her, one of the robots managed to grab her wings between its thumb and forefinger, effectively rendering her immobile, despite her struggling and complaints, unable to fight back as the other hand came towards her.

* * *

Continuing the fight with his newly forged weapon, Aqualad kept taking down hivebots one after another. As a robot was trying to punch at him, he dodged the blow and stabbed sideways, impaling it in the elbow, then twisted and ripped the arm off. Pivoting on one foot, he slammed the side of his trident into the enemy, separating it from the waist, then swung his weapon around and released the arm still hooked on, which went flying into another Cyborg duplicate, destroying it as well.

Another three approached him, two from one side and the third from the other. Even so they didn't last long when he took the first's head off with a swing, turned around and smashed the butt end into the second's face, then finished off the third by stabbing it in the neck and ripping its head off its shoulders. "Who's next?" he called out. Half a dozen robots answered the call, only to be skewered when he changed his weapon into six arrows and shot the projectiles at them.

Aqualad reformed his weapon afterwards, just in time to stab one of the hivebots in the center of its chest and run off, causing its core to explode and take out a few more. The remaining enemies opened fire at him, and he continued dodging the beams of blue energy, until he came to the end of the hallway he was in. One of the robots stepped forward, shifted its arm and fired, although he ducked and the blast tore open a hole in the wall behind, showing the ocean lying outside. "Something tells me you fellows can't swim," he said, then threw his trident like a javelin, impaling another robot in the throat, and jumping out through the improvised window.

The elemental Titan could feel the water calling out to him as he dived down, but unfortunately for him, he was fated not to reach it at this particular time. One of the robots extended its arm through the hole and shot out a cable which ensnared Aqualad's legs. The worst part of it came when electricity snaked its way down the cable towards him, causing him to cry out in pain as the powerful current coursed through his body. Overcome by this, he was rendered unconscious and hauled back up.

* * *

Cyborg grunted as a blow from the HIVE headmaster forced him back again. Shifting his arm, he fired a few shots at Blood, who batted aside the first, then reflected the second so that it crashed at Cyborg's feet. Charging through the cloud of dust and debris, the cybernetic teen unleashed a flurry of punches at his opponent, all of which were avoided with little movement, or blocked with minimal effort. Angered at the east with which his attacks were being repelled, Cyborg lunged at the villain with a double handed blow. Blood merely jumped back a little and lashed out with a kick, causing Cyborg to fly away and land on his back. Still as confident, Blood walked towards Cyborg, who quickly lifted a foot, from which came a flash of blue energy that sent him into the air, though he easily landed on his feet.

"That's what I like about you Cyborg. You're full of surprises." Brother Blood dashed forward, and although Cyborg rolled out of the way of his falling kick, the villain still managed to grip him around the shoulders, bringing him closer to his face as he continued speaking. "And you are a curiosity." Hoisting him over his head, the HIVE headmaster threw Cyborg into a wall. Looking up, he noticed that he had conveniently fallen next to the security system's panel. "I've dealt with discipline problems before," Blood went on, seemingly undisturbed as Cyborg was resetting the security system. "A few others like you friend Bumblebee had managed to slip free from my hypnotic control."

Having just finished working at the panel, Cyborg went to place his hand on the scanner below, but was prevented from doing so when Blood grabbed him and threw him to the floor. He proceeded to pick him up by his feet and slam him onto the floor a few more times. "But you, Cyborg... you are the only one who has ever been able to resist me. And I don't like it!" The villain then switched to angrily scratching away at Cyborg's chest plate. "What is all that circuitry allows you to defy me? Come on, what makes you tick!"

"A 50000 watt power-cell!" Cyborg answered, then leaned up a little, allowing for the blast of energy that shot out form the hole in his chest to catch Blood full face and hurl him across the room. Seizing the opportunity, Cyborg made his way over to the scanner and placed his hand on it.

"**Encryption keys randomized,**" a computerized voice spoke. "**Security system resetting. Intruder alert, intruder alert.**" Dozens of slots opened up in the walls and ceiling, from which single barrelled turrets extended out and aimed at Blood. He only had the time to put his arms up in front of his face, before being assailed by laser fire and flung out through the window.

"And stay out," Cyborg said as he collapsed and blacked out.

* * *

Sometime later, Cyborg's senses started to return to him. The first was feeling, then he realized that he could hear dimmed voices, which got progressively clearer, and then finally he opened up his eyes and saw Mas and Menos standing over him. "Senior Cyborg!" they said upon seeing him conscious.

Sitting up, he took into account that he'd been lying on the common room's table, with the others standing around him. "Blood's gone? And you're all okay?" he asked as he took off the end of the recharger pack's cable hooked to his chest.

"Had a few close calls, but everything worked out alright," Speedy answered.

"Only because we had such a good leader," Bumblebee pitched in.

Getting up from the table, Cyborg stretched his limbs as he took into account the fact that the room was obviously in need of repairs, not counting the broken up disco ball. "And just when he finally got the place looking decent."

"I know you haven't had much time to think about our offer..." Aqualad began.

"Yeah, look... I-" Cyborg interrupted himself when a signal came from his arm, indicating an incoming transmission.

"Cyborg," Robin spoke up as a screen showing his face appeared on the half metal teen's arm. "What're you still doing there? I told you we want you back home."

Cyborg looked back at Aqualad, Bumblebee, Speedy, Mas and Menos for a moment, then turned his attention towards the Boy Wonder. "Robin... I am home. I've decided to stay on permanently, as leader of Titans East."

"But, Cyborg... we need you."

"Sorry man, but they need me more," he replied, then cut off the transmission from his end. "Yall better get some rest," he spoke to the Titans East. "Combat practice starts at 0600 sharp."

They all stood in their positions, waiting until after Cyborg had walked out the door and was for sure out of hearing range. "Objective achieved, headmaster," Aqualad spoke into a yellow communicating device. "He suspects nothing."

"Excellent, my students," Blood's voice spoke back as the five's eyes glowed red. "Excellent..."

* * *

All the way back in Jump City, Gale and Raven were both sitting on the rooftop of Titans' Tower. An ever so slight sensation from the mark on his chest pulled the winged boy from his thoughts. "Strange..." he muttered as he gazed eastward.

"Something wrong?" Raven asked curiously.

Gale blinked, turning his attention towards the young sorceress. "Nah, it's nothing."

* * *

So... I hope you liked it and of you'd be so kind as to review, that would be very much appreciated.


	18. Titans East  Part 2

Disclaimer: I still don't own the Teen Titans. DUH!

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Titans East – Part 2**

Back in Jump City, a few days had passed since Cyborg had told Robin he didn't mean to come back. In the common room of Titans' Tower, the Boy Wonder was currently sitting in front of a terminal computer, searching for traces of Professor Chang, but with no success yet. Gale and Raven were there as well, both sitting on the couch with a book in their hands. As usual, Gale was reading from his small black cover book, going over the last few passages that spoke of the battle against The Destroyer.

"_Twisted smile remaining on his face, The Destroyer revealed to us the power that had defeated Father Sky. Our shock grew as we felt his sheer strength, standing still before him, a sense of dread coming over us. Having decided that he'd waited long enough, The Destroyer finally attacked, sending forth rolling waves of darkness_."

"_The speed with which his attack came left us with but a split moment to react. Moving as fast as we could, my siblings and I conjured forth barriers of air, fire, water and earth in an attempt to defend ourselves, pouring as much will into them as we could._"

"_Unfortunately, our defenses were even less effective than our first attacks had been. With us having already used so much power from attacking, and the incredible strength he possessed, the darkness he unleashed tore through our shields as if they weren't even there. And although we were only hit with a glancing blow, I could still feel pain like never before._"

"_The Destroyer merely smirked before lashing out at us again. The following moments were merely a blur, during which I saw but flashes of what happened. The Destroyer's throne dissipating and my sister being struck by its dark flames. My two brothers falling down as well when they were hit by a flurry of lightning bolts. As for myself, I was also forced from our late father's domain when The Destroyer pummeled me with one of his massive hands_."

"_The Destroyer looked down at our beaten forms as if we were no longer of any consequence. 'Your powers may seem formidable, but they are meaningless faced with mine,' our enemy spoke for the first time. 'I will allow you to live, so that you may see your world crumble before your very eyes.' With those words said, The Destroyer descended as he began to charge up his powers to unleash a devastating attack_."

"_I felt pain that was not my own. Forcing myself to rise, I joined with my siblings again. A sense of dread came over all of us at that point, knowing that if it hadn't been any of us, there was but one left. Newfound energy coursed through us as we disappeared from our meeting point, racing towards that one place we all held most dear, hoping against hope that we would not be too late._"

"_But... upon arrival, we were stricken by what lay before us. Our grief was soon set aside as we readied ourselves, our resolve to destroy our enemy stronger and more powerful than we had ever felt before_."

Although he'd already gone over these particular passages, Gale couldn't help but feel captivated all the same, images coming to his mind as he read. At that point, he chose to skip to another section of the book and flipped through the pages until stopping in a spot at random.

"_I have almost lost count of the times that have come and gone. We watched as people worked, learned, built, grew, destroyed, explored, fought, killed, lived and died. For the better... and for the worse_."

"_My siblings have all retreated to their own places, and even I find myself aimlessly wandering alone, looking from a distance at people who no longer remember who we are. I have lived for countless years, and I can feel that my time will come soon enough. I wonder what will happen after I pass on. What will become of my siblings? Will someone take my place? How will people live?_"

"_It was during one of my many aimless wanderings that I saw her. She was so beautiful… I could not find the words. After a mere split second glance, I could feel myself entranced by her, ignoring everything else entirely and focusing only on this wondrous being. Finding it impossible to stay away, I chose to throw caution to the wind and approached her."_

"_Despite being surprised at first by my form, she took things quite well, displaying an inner beauty as radiant as her outward appearance. She is warm, kind, caring, considerate… possessing an endless list of qualities_."

A curious frown developed on Gale's face as he read the last few passages, feeling that the words were somewhat familiar. After re-reading the passage that spoke of the mystery woman's beauty, he looked up from his book, and his eyes just so happened to settled on Raven. The object of his attention turned her head towards him a moment later, noticing his absent minded gaze. "Err... is there something on my face?" she asked her winged friend.

Gale's eyes popped wide open upon hearing the innocent question. His eyes went from Raven, to the book, to Raven, the book again, and then Raven. "... no," he piped up, before shoving the book in front of his reddening face in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. Despite that, the female titan had still glimpsed the blush working its way onto his face, which, after guessing that she was in part responsible, caused her own to spring up.

"You guys seem awfully quiet," Robin commented when he turned around to look at his friends.

"... So?" Gale spoke up.

"Nothing, just looks like something awkward happened and neither of you are talking because of it.

"Uh huh," Raven mumbled.

"Whatever." Robin shrugged his shoulders and got back to work, not knowing how close he'd been to the truth.

* * *

"So, you got all that?" Beast Boy asked as he and Starfire walked through the hallway.

"Yes, I believe I have understood the plan correctly," the alien girl replied. "But are you certain that this will succeed in bringing our friends close together?"

"Of course it will, Star," the changeling said confidently. "They're already in the right mood, and all they need is a push to bring them closer."

"Very well then, if you say so." The two teens continued walking through the hall for a bit, until coming into the main room. "Greetings, friends! How are you all?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Robin replied.

"Same here," Gale added.

"Ditto," Raven pitched in.

"Good to know," Beast Boy spoke up, smiling brightly. "Say… you guys got any plans for the evening?" he asked. Raven and Gale both shook their heads in response. "Then why don't we all head out and go see a movie?"

"Might as well," the young sorceress and winged boy said at the exact same time. They both looked at each other for a second, before quickly diverting their attention away, putting their books aside and getting up to join the two others.

Robin, who had turned around, raised a questioning eyebrow, mildly surprised and confused by their behavior, though he dismissed it as usual. "Go ahead. I'll stay here and give you guys a call if anything comes up."

"Very well then," Starfire said. "Come friends, let us be off to the movies!" And with those words, Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven and Gale left to go to the theater, the latter two unknowing of what had been planned for them.

* * *

After making their way to the rooftop of Titans' Tower, the four teens took off and started flying. Beast Boy, having changed into an eagle, was leading next to Starfire, while Gale and Raven were following behind. "By the way, where's the theater and what movie are we going to see?" the winged boy inquired.

"The theater is not very far from here," Starfire answered. "And the movie is called Casablanca."

"Isn't that some kind of classical romance movie from the 1940's?" Raven inquired.

"Yes, I believe it is. From what I understand, the theater is a small one which mostly shows older classical movies."

"Meh, never know, it might turn out to be good," Gale suggested. The rest of the flight was relatively uneventful, and they arrived at the theater shortly. The building in question was of medium size, although it still appeared to be well kept, and had a small number of people. The Titans landed on the sidewalk in front of it, and with Beast Boy changing into his usual form, they walked in and all got their tickets. Then after picking up some popcorn, they made their way into one of only four rooms, which contained a small number of seats.

Strangely enough, for reasons unknown to them, Raven and Gale ended up sitting next to each other. "It's going good so far," Beast Boy whispered to Starfire. Both were seated behind the first two, ideally placed so that they could watch them.

"Yes, now let us wait and see how things progress."

* * *

At that time in Steel City, the Titans East were all in their rooms, given the very late hour. However, not all of them were resting peacefully. Twisting and turning on his bed, Aqualad was experiencing troubled sleep. "Your struggling will hardly make any difference," Brother Blood's voice spoke in his head.

"I won't let you… get away with… this."

"Silly boy… you can't stop the headmaster. You aren't nearly strong enough to break free. It would make things much easier if you simply surrendered yourself. After all, I can't allow another rebellion, and in the end, you will obey me."

"No… I-" Aqualad cut short his mental tirade when another voice came up that only he could hear. It was feminine, sounding both soft, yet powerful, as if belonging to one that was ancient.

"_Now is not the time, child. Let him lower his guard, wait a while longer, and then break free. The time will come…_"

Although the experience had left him mystified and confused, much in the same manner that his vision of the strange man during the battle had done, he found a certain level of calm. "Yes, headmaster… I will obey." 'For now…'

* * *

Sometime during the course of the movie, Raven and Gale had both fallen asleep. And, almost as if caused by some magnetic attraction, the two of them ended up subconsciously leaning against one another. "Oh… they look so cute," Starfire commented, to which Beast Boy grinned widely.

"Yeah. In fact, I think they look so cute that I'll take a picture to remember this." The changeling then pulled out a small camera from his belt, took a picture of them from behind, then quietly navigated his way around the seats so that he could get a shot of their faces.

By the time the movie came to an end, Raven stirred from her sleep. After a short moment, her eyes opened, she realized she could feel something on her shoulder, and that similarly, her head was lying against something else. Confused, she raised her head and looked to the left, where she saw Gale's head resting on her shoulder. Upon seeing this, she froze, and remained like this for a moment. 'Okay, I can't believe I fell asleep on top of my best friend, and that he fell asleep on me. This is embarrassing… although, I have to admit that it was comfortable.' Shocked by her own thoughts, Raven shook her head in denial, at which Gale sat up right again.

A split second later, his face sported a look of embarrassment similar to Raven's, given that he'd just processed what had happened. 'What's to be embarrassed about?' a part of him said. 'It's not as if you didn't like it.' Ignoring that particular train of thought, Gale cleared his throat. "Umm… did I fall asleep on you?" he asked his dark haired friend.

"… yeah."

"Oh."

"And I kind of fell asleep on you too."

"Uh huh."

"…"

"…"

"Well then, how was the movie?" Beast Boy inquired as he made his way to the two of them.

"I guess it was okay, for the time I was awake," Raven answered.

"What she said," Gale added.

"I am glad to you enjoyed yourselves," Starfire said as they began to make their way out of the theater.

"Are we going back now?" Raven asked once they were outside again.

"Well..." Beast Boy began. "We were actually thinking that we could all go hang out at a club for a while. You know, hang out, have fun, dance maybe..."

"You wanna go?" Gale looked to his dark haired friend.

The young sorceress shrugged her shoulders in response. "I guess so."

"Great!" Starfire declared enthusiastically. "Now let us be off!"

And without further words, the four of them started to fly again, Beast Boy and Starfire leading like before, with Gale and Raven following behind. "Just curious, but what's that book I always see you reading?" the latter asked.

"Truth be told, I'm not entirely sure what it is myself." The dark garbed teen raised a questioning eyebrow at this. "Well... it's written as if it's someone's diary, except that the entries aren't dated, there's no title and the subjects aren't what you'd usually expect."

"Really? And what does it talk about?"

"Well... from what I've read so far, it starts by talking about Father Sky, Mother Earth and the birth of their children. Looks like it's done from one of their kids' point of view, probably one that controls air, since the others control water, fire and earth. Then it goes on about an evil galactic entity of some sort called 'The Destroyer' that kills Father Sky and sends a horde of mindless demons to attack innocent people. It's a bit long, but to sum it up, the four children crush the demons, hurt The Destroyer, get beaten, manage to come back and somehow eradicate The Destroyer, but only after he's gravely wounded Mother Earth to the point that she retreats deep within herself."

"Huh, interesting..." Raven mumbled, surprised by what he'd just told her, mostly the pieces regarding The Destroyer.

"Is there something wrong?" Gale asked, concern on his face. "You look a little pale. Well, more than usual."

"No, I'm fine," she answered with a straight face. "It's just... that story sounds kind of familiar."

"Yeah, I often feel the same way when I read from that book. Plus, sometimes I can almost see the events and people it speaks about. But, whatever."

* * *

Not too long afterwards, the four of them arrived at a building named 'The Watergate Club'. They all walked in and saw that the place was reasonably big, had a bunch of tables and chairs set up, a bar at one of the walls, and a dance floor in the middle of the room. A band was performing on the stage, playing an easygoing song, and a large crowd of people were listening to them, or talking amongst each other. Upon entering, Beast Boy and Starfire quickly went their own ways, therefore leaving their two friends alone. Looking at each other with questioning expressions, they both got a glass of water before deciding to sit at one of the tables.

"So… how did you become interested in painting?" Raven asked, attempting to strike up a conversation.

"Well, there was this one time when I was five years old, my mother took me to an art museum. One of the paintings was a bald eagle with its wings spread wide, flying high in the sky with the sun bearing down on it. I thought that it looked cool and it made me want to be able to do something as beautiful as it was."

"That sounds nice."

"Thanks. So what about you? What kind of interests do you have?"

"Reading, for one. Poetry, writing. And on rare occasions, singing… a little."

"Singing? Really?" Raven nodded coyly at this. "Not entirely what I'd expect you to say, but still quite interesting."

From another end, Beast Boy and Starfire were watching their friends. Smiling to themselves, they waited until the band was done their current song, before walking over to the stage for a quick word with one of the members. "So where are your friends?" the girl singer asked once they were done explaining their idea.

"Right over there," Beast Boy pointed in their direction.

"Sure, we can do that no problem."

"Thank you very much," Starfire said. Then, as the two of them backed out of sight, the singer relayed to the rest of the band what she'd been told. The others smiled in amusement and nodded their agreement in going along with it.

"So, how're you all doing tonight?" she spoke into the microphone, addressing the crowd, who cheered at this. "Good to know. Now, for this next song, we'd like to ask all the couples in here to please make their way to the dance floor." Some of the people walked away from the dancing area, while a few pair joined up and took their places. They all started to dance when the band began to play a slow song, but the singer didn't quite seem satisfied with the turnout. "Come on now, I said ALL the couples." After she'd said those words, one of the lights flicked around and locked onto Raven and Gale.

Both of them froze for a moment upon realizing their predicament. "... Tell me that light's not pointing directly at us," the teenage sorceress pleaded.

"... It's pointing at us," the winged boy confirmed bluntly.

"There's no need to be shy," the singer said as people began to urge them to join.

A blush crept up both their faces. "People are staring at us," Raven pointed out.

"Umm, maybe they'll calm down if we just go along with this for now," Gale suggested.

"I guess it can't hurt to try," she muttered under her breath. The crowd cheered for the embarrassed pair as they got up and made their way towards the others. Once there, they imitated the rest, Gale holding Raven's right hand in his left, while he put his other hand on her waist, and she put hers on his shoulder.

However, just as they had begun, one of the lights just above the stage started to shimmer, followed by electricity crackling around it. Then, to most peoples' surprise, the electricity flowed out and merged into one of Jump City's villains, Overload. Immediately after his appearance, people started to panic and run away as fast as they could. The monster reached out and absorbed the band's discarded instruments, speakers and other nearby electrical equipment.

"Beast Boy, Starfire, get everyone out, we'll hold him off!" The two named Titans nodded at Gale's words, quickly springing into action. Their first step was to fly to the entrance and make it larger by breaking through the adjoining walls, allowing for people to get out faster.

While they were busy doing so, Overload stopped absorbing stuff and turned his attention towards Raven and Gale. "Foolish humans, I will destroy!" it somehow spoke in a rough sounding voice, then extended an arm, shooting a surge of electricity. At the same time at this, it also placed its other arm on a speaker and sent out a sound wave. Raven held her hands in front of herself and conjured a black shield, stopping the arc of electricity before it came anywhere near the fleeing mass, while Gale simply willed the sound wave to disappear.

"Got any ideas?" Gale asked as they both kept halting Overload's attacks, including objects thrown their way.

"He's really weak against water," Raven answered.

"I've got something, but it'll only work if we can force him onto the roof."

Now finished their previous task, Starfire used her eyebeams to blow a hole in the roof, after which Beast Boy slithered close to Overload as a snake, then changed into a gorilla and uprooted the stage, flinging the villain through the improvised opening. The four Titans followed through, facing off with the electrical monster. "What now?" Beast Boy asked.

"I need time, so keep him busy. Raven, be ready to contain him."

Beast Boy, Raven and Starfire proceeded to keep Overload distracted while Gale concentrated. A short moment later, and they could all hear what sounded like wind, and swirling water. A small tornado soon came into sight, having been conjured at a distance, picking up water and carrying it to where the fight was. Seeing this, the sorceress teen put up a wall surrounding their enemy, just before the tornado dumped its contents onto him. Squealing in defeat, Overload shrunk in size until there was nothing more than its primary computer chip. "Way to go, dudes!" Beast Boy cheered as they let the water flow away and picked up Overload's remains.

"Nice work." The four turned around and saw that Robin had joined them on the roof.

"A little late, are we?" Raven pointed out.

"When did you get here?" Gale inquired.

"About a minute ago. Just enough to see that you guys were about to take him down without my help."

* * *

After briefing Robin on what he'd missed, the police had finally arrived to pick up Overload's remaining piece. Having decided that they'd had enough for one evening, they all returned to Titans' Tower. Robin chose to get back to the main room, while Beast Boy and Starfire went their own ways. As for Raven and Gale, they both simply sat down on the rooftop.

"Tonight was certainly interesting," the sorceress commented.

"You could say that," her friend responded. "Although, despite everything, I felt that it was still fun."

"Yeah, I had fun too," Raved said with a sincere smile. "I rather enjoyed talking with you."

"Thanks." They remained silent for a while, until Gale got up, bowed and extended an arm to Raven. "May I have this dance?"

"But of course," Raven said as she accepted his hand. Again holding hands, with her free one on his shoulder, and his at her waist, they started to dance, both of them smiling as they did so.

"I told you it'd work out, Star," Beast Boy whispered to the alien girl as they discreetly watched from the doorway to the rooftop. She said nothing in response, but rather smiled warmly at the sight of her two friends.

* * *

A few days past the most recent events found Cyborg and Robin talking one on one in the common room on their respective towers. The Boy Wonder was merely sitting down in front of the screen, while his cybernetic friend was going about, putting in the finishing touches on the computer system. "There's really nothing I can do to change your mind?" Robin asked.

"No man, I'm staying in Steel City as leader of the Titans East," was the answer. "That's it, that's all. End of discussion."

"Could you at least give me a reason? I mean, I'm losing a member of my team here, and it's not like I can read your thoughts."

"They need me. And this is my big chance. I'm ready to show people what I can do. I'm ready to grow up, to be a man."

"What about Brother Blood?"

"What about him?"

"I know how badly you want to catch him. And believe me, I know a few things about being obsessed with your target." Robin ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Look, I'm just worried about what you're getting yourself into."

Cyborg stopped his current task to stare at the Titans' leader. "You think I can't handle it."

"I didn't say that."

The half metal teen paused for a moment, then continued his work. "You didn't have to. Besides, this is supposed to be a good thing. My own tower, my own team! Why can't you just be happy for me?"

"Because you're already on a team, my team. And you can't just go up and quit like that!"

"I can and I did. Which means I don't have to put up with you telling me what to do anymore!"

"So now this is my fault?"

"It's not about you!"

"No, it's all about you! Because that's all you care about! You talk about being a man, but if you can turn your back on us after everything we've been through, you're nothing but a spoiled child!"

"I'm staying," Cyborg said resolutely, causing surprise to spring up on Robin's face. "I don't care what you say, I don't care what you do. And right now, I don't care if I ever see you again." He then pushed a button on a panel, making the screen go black, then stormed off, not knowing that the rest of his current team had seen the whole conversation.

"He's broke contact with the Titans, Headmaster," Aqualad spoke into a different shaped communicator. "We will proceed on your command."

"Wonderful, my students," the villain's voice replied. "Brother Blood is very pleased. Continue the charade for now. Cyborg mustn't suspect that I've recruited you, until I'm ready to recruit him. And I should be ready in a matter of hours, with a little help from Professor Chang."

* * *

The next morning, after a session of combat practice, the Titans East found themselves gathered around the table in the main room, with the exception of Speedy, who was standing by himself near the balcony's edge. "Yo Speedy!" Cyborg called out to him. "Get your butt over here."

"What's going on, Cyborg?" Aqualad asked as they sat down.

"Well… after the way I've been working yall in combat practice, I figured my team could use a good meal." He then picked up a pot from the floor and set in on the table. "So say hello to homemade spaghetti with Chef Cyborg's patented triple meat sauce." With the top removed, a delicious smell emerged from the pot, almost making their mouths water.

"What did we do to deserve this?" Bumblebee inquired.

"Just my way of saying thanks for making me boss." Immediately after this, he caught an arrow in his hand, though the momentum still sent him falling down.

"You're welcome," Speedy said, holding his bow with another arrow at the ready.

"Yo man! What is your-" Cyborg interrupted himself when he noticed that the others were standing against him, or more specifically, that their eyes were all glowing red. "Brother Blood," he said in realization. "He never left the tower, he brainwashed all of you."

"The headmaster is teaching us now," Aqualad added. "And soon he'll be teaching you."

Quickly getting to his feet, Cyborg dodged a flurry of arrows and electric shocks. While running, he picked up a chair and threw it at the mind controlled Titans, then fired with his sonic cannon. However, Mas and Menos cut this short when one hopped on top of the other and kicked him at their usual super speed, almost sending him over the edge. He was then actually sent over when a pair of watery tendrils seized his legs and pulled him into one of the pools below.

Aqualad smirked as they looked down to try and see Cyborg, only to have a shot from the half metal teen's sonic cannon catch him in the chest and blow him off his feet. Cyborg got out of the pool as quickly as he could and literally ran through the doors. Bumblebee flew down and chased after him as he ran through the hallway. "Come on, Bumblebee, shake it off! I'm on your side, remember?" The dark skinned girl suddenly stopped and grabbed her head. Mas and Menos zoomed by while she was like this, only to crash into a set of doors that had just closed.

Taking advantage of the time this gave him, Cyborg pushed the button for the elevator, which was fortunately on his floor, then pushed the one inside for it to go to the top level. Stepping out, he let the elevator go up, hoping that it would distract the others while he ran down the stairs. He made it down to the last few levels, before being caught by the Guatemalan twins, who kicked him into the hallway. At the sound of breaking pipes, Cyborg dived out of the way, allowing for a powerful jet of water to miss him and blow a hole in the wall instead. Speedy then fired an arrow with the tip breaking out to reveal a boxing glove. The projectile hit Cyborg square in the face, sending him flying out the hole and falling down in front of the tower's entrance.

"Cyborg calling Robin," he spoke into his arm's communicator as he got to his feet. "Cyborg calling Robin. Mayday! I need help!"

"Your signal is being jammed," Aqualad explained. Cyborg turned around to see Aqualad, Speedy, Mas and Menos, all standing against him.

"Resistance is futile," the red suited archer added. Growling in annoyance, Cyborg shifted his arm into his sonic cannon, armed it, but then was rendered unconscious when a large electric shock hit him in the back, courtesy of Bumblebee having snuck up behind.

* * *

After a long period of unconsciousness, Cyborg could finally feel himself coming around. The first thing he noticed upon waking up, was that he was lying on the table in the main room, metal clasps pinning his arms and legs to the surface, effectively keeping him trapped, despite his struggling. The table bending over to an upright position allowed him to see the mind controlled Titans gathered around. "Come on team, snap out of it! Can't you see what's going on? Blood's messing with your minds. He's not teaching you, he's forcing you to be criminals, just like him."

"Not exactly," the HIVE Headmaster spoke up as he walked over to Cyborg. "You see, I don't want them to be like me, I want them to be like you." He then pulled back his hood, revealing that a head sporting cybernetic features like Cyborg's, only with red instead of blue.

The half metal teenager started at him in surprise upon seeing this. "What've you done to yourself?"

"Now, now, don't tell me you're disgusted by the very technology that keeps you alive. Or are you just jealous that it looks better on me?"

"You look like a psychopath. What is my tech doing in your head?"

"I believe it was Socrates who said 'if you can't beat em, join em.' Thanks to you, I've entered the digital age. With your cybernetic implants enhancing my mental powers, I'll be able to control thousands of students. Once they've been… upgraded with the proper hardware."

"NO! I won't let you do this!"

"You'll not only let me, you're also going to help. There no room in my school, for a discipline problem! And that's what you are! Something in your circuitry allows you to resist me. And before I can proceed, I need to know what."

"I'm not gonna tell you a thing," Cyborg spat at him.

"You don't need to tell me, I'm just going to take you apart piece by piece, until I find what makes you tic. Students," he said as he backed away to give them room. "You may begin."

"Okay team," Cyborg said as they began to approach him, carrying wicked looking tools in their hands. "Now would be great time to just stop obeying Blood and remember I'm your leader!" One of the windows suddenly exploded inward, after which a green lion pounced on Aqualad. A flash of black telekinetic energy threw the other Titans off their feet, while two nearby hivebots were destroyed by a pair of starbolts, and the other two were ripped apart by exploding disks.

"The Titans!" Brother Blood exclaimed in realization.

"I'll be honest Blood," Robin spoke up as him, Starfire, Beast Boy, Raven and Gale stood between him and Cyborg. "You don't look so good."

"Yeah… does that stuff get cable?" Beast Boy asked, at which Raven smacked him in the back of his head.

The HIVE Headmaster frowned in annoyance. "If I can't disassemble you, I'll just have to experiment on your new friends. Pity… trial and error is such a messy process." Blood and the Titans East were then engulfed by his red energy and disappeared. Immediately after, thick metal plates suddenly came up around the balcony area they were on, completely surrounding them.

Starfire then walked over to their trapped friend and ripped off his bindings. "You are… okay?"

"I'm not hurt, but I'm a long way from being okay. What're you guys doing here anyway?"

"An old friend called for help," Robin explained.

"I thought they'd jammed my transmission."

"The signal was pretty weak, but we got the message."

"Looks like we got here just in time," Gale noted.

"Some leader I turned out to be," Cyborg muttered. "Less than a week and I've already lost my entire team."

"Not yet," the Boy Wonder objected. "There's still time to save them."

"So what's the plan?"

"You tell me. If anyone knows how to stop Blood, it's you. This is your enemy, your technology, your mission. The team is yours to command."

"Then I guess we'll have to start by breaking out and-"

"Dude," Beast Boy spoke up. "We're kind of locked in."

"Not for long. I put this place together, I can tear it apart."

* * *

Down in the tower's lower levels, Brother Blood was standing before the Titans East in a large, wide open room. Aqualad, Bumblebee, Mas, Menos and Speedy were all trapped on upright tables, unable to move, had they even tried. "Oh, this is a very exciting time," the HIVE headmaster said as Professor Chang rolled over a cart with the same kind of cybernetic equipment as was in him and Cyborg. "Trued, not all of you will survive and experimental phase. And those who develop resistance like Cyborg will be deactivated and studied. But, once the process is perfected, my upgraded students will not only be unstoppable, they'll be utterly incapable of breaking free from my control… ever again."

"No…" Bumblebee moaned. "No… this is… wrong."

Blood walked over to the dark skinned girl, his human and cybernetic eyes glowing red. "I'm sorry, what was that, dearie?"

Bumblebee struggled against his mental control for a moment, before succumbing, her eyes red again. "Nothing headmaster, please proceed."

"Or maybe you should quit while you're ahead." After saying those words, Cyborg jumped in the air and fired off a shot from his sonic cannon. And although Blood held out his hand and conjured a shield of red energy, the force of the blast still pushed him back a ways.

Brother Blood looked at the Titans who had just arrived, then smirked and snapped his fingers, at which the trapped teens' bonds were loosed and the boards sunk into the floor. "Students, attack," he ordered, then disappeared in a flash of red energy.

"Go easy on em," Cyborg requested as they stood face to face with the Titans East. "They're still my friends." The eleven fighters stared into each other's faces for a bit, neither side making a move yet. "Titans, Go!" Having just said the battle cry, Cyborg charged at Aqualad, swinging his arms at the water elemental, while Speedy jumped in the air and fired off a flurry of arrows. Mas and Menos started to circle around Raven and Beast Boy, who flew up, along with Starfire, Gale and a shrunken Bumblebee.

Meanwhile, Robin ran into the thick of Speedy's barrage of arrows, expertly dodging them all, until he approached him enough to engage in close quarter combat. The two masked heroes punched, kicked, blocked and tried to his their opponent however they could. At one point, Speedy swung his bow at Robin, the weapon brushing his hair as he ducked underneath, then the Boy Wonder lunged forward and smacked him in the stomach with the palm of his hand. The red suited archer slid back along the floor for a bit, then flipped himself up and starting firing at Robin again, keeping him at bay long enough for him to jump up a few steps onto the walkway above.

For their part, Cyborg and Aqualad were mostly fighting hand to hand. The cybernetic teen threw a few hard punches, which the aquatic elemental dodged, and retaliated with some of his own. Cyborg blocked the punches that he could, some of the others that made it through barely worth notice, then kept on swinging his arms, forcing Aqualad to step back. The elemental smirked as he noticed the huge metal pipes running from the floor to the ceiling. The reason for his confidence was explained when water started to come out from the seams, coming together in a large mass. Cyborg turned around at this, pursued by Aqualad who surfed in mid air using the water while shooting some off at the half metal teen. Robin then came running in the opposite direction that he was, still hounded by Speedy's arrows. "Robin, now!" Cyborg called out to him. The Boy Wonder then jumped over, placing a hand on Cyborg's back and spun his leg around to deliver a flying kick that knocked Aqualad off his perch.

A burst of arrows impaling the ground at their feet reminded them that Speedy was still very much active. The archer ran along the system of walkways, shooting arrows at the same time. Robin tried throwing a pair of explosive disks, which missed and detonated behind him, while a blast of sonic cannon fire came closer, but missed all the same. Another attempt only succeeded in chopping off the railing where Speedy had already gone past. "Gale, take Bee, Starfire, the bow!" Cyborg shouted.

The two Titans just named were currently flying side by side, pursued by Bumblebee and her relentless electric shocks. Upon hearing the command, Gale flipped over and materialized a wall of air in front of himself, kicking off and flying straight back at Bumblebee, who was surprised enough to interrupt her fire. And while the winged boy continued flying circles around her, Starfire went on ahead, moving through Speedy's barrage of arrows and tackled him, throwing his bow aside in the process.

Back on the ground, Mas and Menos had their hands linked and were repeatedly running into Beast Boy, and other Titans currently on the ground. "Raven, split em up!" Cyborg called out to her. The Guatemalan twins zoomed past Raven, bounced off the far wall and came back at her. She then extended a hand covered in black telekinetic energy and uprooted pieces of the floor, missing her target a few times until their tripped over one spot, their speed causing them to fly off and land apart from each other.

Gale then dived down and passed between Cyborg and Raven, followed after by Bumblebee, with Starfire a short ways behind. "Yo, B.B!" Beast Boy changed into a cheetah and jumped into Cyborg's arms, who threw him into the air and was caught by Starfire. The alien girl then threw him again, this time towards Bumblebee, at which he shifted into a toad, his long tongue snaking its way out and reeling her into his mouth. He then landed on the ground, his mouth shaking a little, then spat out the dark skinned girl who fell into a heap on the floor, picked up by Gale who seemed a little grossed out.

As the Titans were standing grouped together, a burst of red energy caught their attention. But before any of them could intercede, Brother Blood had already placed a hand on Cyborg's chest and disappeared again, taking their friend along with him. "Cyborg!"

"Son of a- Ow! Damnit!" Gale said as Bumblebee zapped him and regained her usual size, while the other mind controlled Titans got up to face their remaining counterparts.

* * *

Brother Blood and Cyborg reappeared on the rooftop, still in the position they previously been in, until the former flicked his wrist and sent the latter sliding back. He then pulled off his robe, revealing arms like Cyborg's except with red, with the rest of his body appearing to be normal. Growling in annoyance, Cyborg charged forward, throwing hard punches at the HIVE headmaster, who did nothing more than slight movements of his body to avoid them. Enraged that the old man was still toying with him, Cyborg furiously continued trying to punch and kick him, onto to be sent sliding back again when Blood smacked him with a palm surrounded in red energy.

The cybernetic turned around and made a dash towards his opponent, only to have him stop his fist with the palm of his hand, then twist his arm downward. Another palm strike slammed into his face, followed by a fist to the gut, a knee in the same place, and then an uppercut that propelled him to the other end of the rooftop. Cyborg got up and stared at Brother Blood for a second, then both of them jumped in the air, the former shifting his arm and shooting with his sonic cannon, while Blood swung at him with a karate chop. On the impact on landing, Cyborg's left arm went to his right, which had just fallen off above the elbow. "You can't defeat the headmaster Cyborg. When are you going to learn?"

"Never!" he answered resolutely. "Guess that makes you a lousy teacher."

"Or perhaps I just need to give you a crash course!" Even with one arm missing, Cyborg still charged forward to meet his opponent regardless.

* * *

In the tower's lower levels again, Beast Boy was currently being beaten by Mas and Menos. He changed into a mountain goat and waited while they came at him, only to be beaten back again. Trying the same tactic as a cheetah, tiger and gorilla didn't work either. As the twins ran around to come at him again, he turned his back to them and turned into certain dreaded animal, that being a skunk. The foul liquid caught them full face, forcing them to abandon all thoughts about fighting in favor of plugging their noses, leaving them ripe for a green giant squid to ensnare and separate them.

While this happened, Starfire was locked in aerial combat with Bumblebee. The Tamaranian girl hurled a few starbolts as she was flying away, with her adversary weaving her way through and retaliating with shocks from her stingers. Flying higher, Starfire put her hands together and created a huge ball with her powers that pulsed outward, hitting Bumblebee and sending her crashing to the floor. "I am hopeful that when this is over we may still be friends."

For her part, Raven was fighting against Speedy. The agile archer currently in mid air, he fired off a short barrage of arrows, which met a black shield and harmlessly fell to the floor. When he fell back to the floor, Speedy, gripped his bow in two hands, swinging it at Raven, who dodged some of the swings and blocked the rest with her powers. After a brief moment of this, she reached out and caught the end of his bow with both hands, to which he went down and swept her legs out from underneath her. Speedy then raised his bow, only to be hit by a drop kick courtesy of Robin. Raven flipped up and got to her feet again, ganging up with Robin against the red archer.

As for the other two fighters, Gale and Aqualad were on the floor, neither one using their powers at the moment. Both of them were close, throwing punches and kicks at one another. Gale moved his head to the side a little, narrowly avoiding a punch, then lashed out with his foot, though Aqualad was still able to catch it. Faced with this, the winged boy jumped up and kicked off of Aqualad's chest, doing a back flip and landing on his feet, then lunged forward and speared his adversary.

Both of them rolled across the floor for a bit, but separated when Aqualad pulled his legs in and pushed Gale off, giving them both a bit of space. A strange burning sensation took hold of Gale as they were standing face to face, at which he held a hand over his chest. The same appeared to be happening to Aqualad, as he was holding a hand over his left shoulder. "Vos es validus! Supplex non pro inquit!"

Aqualad's eyes opened in shock at the words that had come out of Gale's mouth. Both then extended a hand, one materializing a transparent sword of air, the other, a trident made of water.

Ignoring everything else, they looked at each other, then the other's weapon, then their own, then each other again. Shaking off their stupor, they charged forward, Gale flying in the air, while Aqualad surfed on the water, sword meeting trident in a resounding clash. They pushed against each other for a bit, then pushed away, only to come charging in again. The two elementals kept at it for a short while, then disengaged to put some distance between each other.

Being apart as they were, both raised their free hands, Gale conjuring a beam of wind, while Aqualad shot out a jet of water. Wind and water collided head on, neither one backing down, until Gale let his attack disappear and jumped to the side, dodging the jet of water and swinging his sword, at which a blunt blade of air emerged from the weapon. Aqualad spun his trident around in an underhanded swing, sending forth a gush of water, then held it in front of himself, preparing to defend against the incoming attack, while Gale did the same with his own weapon.

To their surprise, the gush of water evaporated just before reaching Gale, while the blade of air dispersed before coming near Aqualad. The winged boy's mind flashed back to his first encounter with Terra, when neither of them had been able to hurt the other with their powers. All of a sudden, Gale found himself caught by the same kind of feeling he had experienced only moments ago, only much stronger this time. "**Veneratio the matris' memoria! Veneratio the abbas' vitualamen! Effrego libera, Aqua Puer! Effrego libera!**"

Aqualad dropped his trident and grabbed his head in both hands, shouting as he struggled against Brother Blood's mind control. Finally, after a short moment, something seemed to snap, at which he relaxed, able to see the world through his own eyes again, which had regained their usual color. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem."

"Headmaster!" Speedy cried out when he saw Aqualad now free.

"Fear not, my students, help is on its way," Blood's voice spoke back to the still mind controlled Titans. A horde of hivebots walked in through the rooms' many doorways and jumped down to the floor.

"Really wishing Cyborg was here," Raven commented at the sight.

Aqualad picked up his weapon again, fighting alongside Gale, the two elementals tearing through the robots with ease. For their part, Robin, Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy split between fighting the other Titans East and the robots. The battled continued on like this, until quite unexpectedly, a burst of red energy flared up, engulfing some of the robots, along with all the Titans, except for Aqualad and Gale, whose combined powers destroyed the energy around them before they could get snatched away. "… Well shit," Gale cursed upon seeing that they were the only Titans left.

"This sucks," Aqualad added as they stood back to back.

"No joke."

"Got that right." Those few short words said, the two of them jumped into the fight again.

* * *

Sliding back after a palm strike to his chest, the half metal teen stopped when he hit the cliff wall lying against the tower. He then moved aside, almost falling down as he narrowly avoided one of Blood's punches. Following this, he continued trying to hit his enemy, only to have him move a little to the side, take a step back or bat his arm aside with minimal effort. After one swing missed, Blood reached out with an energy covered hand and ripped a piece off of Cyborg's chest plate, revealing some of his parts underneath. "Feeling a little exposed, are we?"

Cyborg's response was only to charge forward again, attempting to strike the HIVE headmaster in any which way he could. However, after a brief moment of toying with him, Blood swung an energy enhanced palm, severing Cyborg's remaining arm at the elbow. Grinning maliciously, Blood swung again, taking off the rest of Cyborg's right arm, his right leg, his left leg, then finished with a slash across his stomach, sending him crashing into the ground, mere stumps remaining instead of limbs. "Now, Cyborg, don't fall to pieces. I have defeated you, but at least you won't be alone. I have defeated you, but at least you won't be alone. Say hello to your classmates."

All the Titans, minus Aqualad and Gale, suddenly appeared, floating in a circle in mid air, each of them surrounded by Blood's red energy. A few robots appeared as well, standing behind their master. "NO!"

The HIVE headmaster looked at the trapped teens, noticing that they weren't all there. "It would seem that we have two missing students. No matter, they'll be joining us soon enough." He then raised his hand, at which Cyborg was surrounded in the same red energy and floated up to his level. "You should have accepted my first offer. I would've made a man out of you. I still could, you know."

"You can take your offer and blow it out your-"

"Insolent child!" Blood shouted, visibly angered at Cyborg's defiance. "Where is it?" he demanded as he gripped the half metal teen's battered body. "I've combed through your blueprints, peeled back your armor, stripped off your machinery, but still you defy me! Where in this vile contraption, is the part that allows you to resist!"

"It's not in the circuitry, is it?" Cyborg asked as he came to a realization. "It's not the machine that resists you." The aura surrounding him changed from red to blue, knocking Blood to the ground feet. "It's me, my spirit. That's the part you can't break." The robots nearby suddenly all broke into small pieces, which floated over to Cyborg, rebuilding his body until there wasn't even a scratch. "I don't need you to make me a man, I already am one!"

Brother Blood jumped to his feet and took a crack at the newly empowered teen, who merely side stepped and allowed him to overshoot himself. Enraged at this, Blood slammed his hands into the ground, sending a wave of energy at Cyborg, though it simply broke again him like a wave against rocks. He charged at him, throwing a flurry of punches, that Cyborg avoided as he could read his mind, then effortlessly caught an incoming fist, and the other. Pushing downward, he forced the old man to his knees, applying pressure to the point that his wrists snapped clean off. Cyborg then jumped up, spinning around in the air and drove the sole of his foot into Blood's chest, sending him crashing into the other end of the rooftop, at which he didn't get up again. "Booyah."

"We're free!" Speedy stated once the energy faded from around them and they were released. Gale and Aqualad then emerged onto the roof at that moment.

"We miss anything?" the water elemental asked, to which the others laughed lightly.

* * *

A little while later, the Titans had all gathered at the bottom of the tower, next to where the T-Ship was stationed. "So… are you like… magic now?" Beast Boy asked Cyborg.

"Pretty sure that was a onetime deal. Blood was trying so hard to hack into my brain, I guess I sorta hacked into his."

"I've must say that your fighting against and with Aqualad was certainly interesting," Raven commented to Gale, who simply shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Just another element to add to the list of mysteries surrounding my life. By the way, you alright?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Good to know," Gale said, placing a hand on her shoulder and smiling, to which she smiled back.

"Anda, bersala!" the Guatemalan twins spoke up.

Gale's head turned into a very deep shade of red as he let his arm drop. Having understood the words, and also from seeing his reaction, Aqualad had to keep himself from laughing too hard. "You speak Spanish?" Raven asked her winged friend, a curious expression on his face.

"Yes."

"What did they say?"

"Something I'd rather not translate," he muttered under his breath.

"Anyway… thanks for everything," Bumblebee said to Robin as they shook hands. "Blood's in jail, and we'll be sticking around to make sure he stays there."

"Besides, I have a feeling he wasn't the only criminal in Steel City," Aqualad pitched in, once he'd finished laughing.

"Well… I guess this is it," Robin spoke to Cyborg.

"It is, for me. Thanks for the offer team," he said to the Titans East, while walking over to his friends. "But I already have a home. And you already have a leader. You just need to listen to her."

Then, after Aqualad, Mas, Menos, Speedy and Bumblebee went off into the city to celebrate and Cyborg had finished putting his stuff back in the T-Car, the Titans were ready to leave. "So, what changed your mind?" Robin asked.

"I always thought I was missing something," Cyborg began. "Something I needed in order to become a man. My own team, my own mission, my own tower… But Blood did manage to teach me one lesson, I'm not missing a thing."

"Dudes, dudettes!" Beast Boy spoke up from his seat in the T-Ship. "Road trip!"

"Need a lift?"

"Thanks." Then with all of them in a good mood, Robin went into the T-Car with Cyborg, while Raven, Starfire and Gale piled into the T-Ship with Beast Boy, and they all started on the journey back home.

* * *

So, hope you liked it, please review and tell me what you thought.


	19. Stranded

Disclaimer: Big surprise here, I don't own the Teen Titans. (That was sarcastic, in case you didn't know)

So, I finally finished with this chapter, was a bit longer than I thought it'd be. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack**  
**

**Stranded**

Somewhere in a fairly distant corner of space, a space station of sorts was floating aimlessly by itself. It looked like a giant white ring, with a large arm reaching out from one end, with smaller ones joining it in the middle from three other sides. For some time it had been merely floating, completely left alone by anyone and anything, until an orange, six passenger spacecraft came into the scene, its destination the station's entry point. When it got close enough, a pair of double doors slid open, giving it enough room to pass through and land on a circular pod inside. Once the door closed shut again, the six hatches opened up, and out came the Teen Titans. Because of it being rather dark, Robin and Beast Boy each took out a flashlight, while Starfire held a starbolt in one hand and Cyborg flipped up a light from his shoulder. As for Gale, he simply used his ever sharp eyes, while Raven simply walked beside him.

After walking for a short while, they came to a circular room, with windows looking out into empty space. The room itself looked almost as if a tornado had come through, leaving behind a trail of technological debris and wreckage. "I guess this explains why there haven't been any communication relays from this space station lately," Robin stated.

"Everything has been destroyed," Starfire said, looking at their messed up surroundings.

"I wonder why?" Beast Boy inquired.

Cyborg then proceeded to kneel down in front of one particular console against the wall, examining it for a moment, before turning back to his friends. "I knew it," he declared. "We've got a malfunctioning bifurcating dialator."

"Yeah… that was my first guess," Raven said.

Gale rolled his eyes at this. "You may not have invented sarcasm, but you've certainly perfected the art of it. Wouldn't you agree, Raven?" The teen sorceress smiled a little bit, giving him a light smack on the side of the head. "I rest my case."

"Can you fix it?" Robin asked Cyborg.

"No problem," he answered, lying on his back to look up at the console's damaged interior. "I've just got to cross the conjoining wires with the transistor couplers," he said as his hands raced around the system. "Then connect to oscillator to the main data port and we'll be good to go."

"Can't he ever just speak english?" Beast Boy thought out loud.

"Would you understand even if-" Gale began, then suddenly interrupted himself, his ears twitching a little as he tried to listen for something.

"Is there something wrong?" Raven asked, eyebrows furrowed at seeing her friend's behavior.

"Not sure," he said, a pensive expression on his face. "I thought I'd heard a strange sound just a second ago… but I can't tell what it is. Hmm…"

They were all pulled away from these thoughts when the lights turned back on and Cyborg stood back up, apparently finished his repair job. "She's purring like a kitten," he announced. "Let's go."

The five other titans followed the half metal teen, walking back towards the T-Ship. "Why would somebody trash the communication station?" Robin wondered.

Just as he finished saying this, a drop of slobber suddenly fell on top of Raven's hood, prompting her, followed by the others, to look up. "Not somebody, something." Looking up, they were able to see a large creature perched on some metal beams. It had brown armored skin, a beige underbelly, big arms and smaller legs, and a rather sizeable mouth opened wide, barring its teeth at them. The titans all readied themselves, Starfire and Raven with their powers covering their hands. The creature breathed in deeply, bulging outward, then let loose a loud cry, creating a sonic shriek aimed directly at the Titans. Robin, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg braced themselves, but to their surprise, although this attack ruptured their surroundings, the immediately area around themselves was completely unaffected.

They then took into account the fact that Gale was standing straight, with one hand held out, maintaining a barrier in place to protect them all. The creature continued to cry out, but the winged boy's defense deflected its shriek without any strain on his part. "Well, are you all just gonna stand there?"

"Titans, go!" Robin called out, shaking off his stupor. Gale let his barrier disappear as the creature stopped its attack and dropped down to the floor below, charging towards the Titans, who charged after it without hesitation. Raven created a pair of circular black disks, which Cyborg and Beast Boy hopped onto. Upon getting close enough, the two boys jumped off, prompting Raven to split the black disks into four separate shards and hurl them at their enemy, who put up its arms in front of its face. While in the air, Beast Boy turned into a kangaroo, which Cyborg grabbed by the tail, swung around and tossed at the monster.

The changeling turned into a triceratops partway, causing the brown creature to stagger a little. Then when he landed, he shifted into an akylosaurus, whipping his club like tail around, although unfortunately for him, his target managed to catch in, but was promptly hit by a shot from Cyborg's sonic cannon. In response to this, it swung the green dinosaur, making him slide across the pathway towards Cyborg, who was saved from harm when Raven enveloped him into the folds on her cloak, then phased back through the ground. She then came up behind, opening up her cloak and letting out her robotic friend who charged forward. Turning around to face them, the creature shrieked, stopping him in his tracks and sending him crashing into Raven.

The monster took a few steps towards the two, but turned around again when a flurry of starbolts pounded against its hide. "We've gotta stop it before it screams again," Robin said. Starfire conjured a large starbolt in one hand, then let it loose, the energy pellet exploding in the back of the creature's mouth just as it was preparing to scream. Gale then flew up a little, using his conjured transparent sword to sever the top of a chain dangling from a metal beam, grabbing onto that end while Robin picked up the bottom part.

The two male teens then charged forward, Robin running on the floor and Gale flying just above him. Before the creature had time to react, they stuck the chain across its maw, like a bit in a horse's mouth, then flew/ran around it, wrapping the chain a few layers thick, taking away its ability to shriek and leaving it only capable of producing grunts and other minor noises. This done, they quickly backed away from the creature, which jumped high in the air and came down towards Starfire. "Starfire, watch out!" Robin warned the alien girl, who had the good sense to fly back, avoiding the falling beast, then shot out with her eyebeams.

The beast crouched down in a ball, Starfire's eyebeams causing it no visible harm, though they did leave a small scorch mark. It then got up and charged after the Tamaranian, rapidly swinging its arms at her, though she was able to dodge successfully. It was interrupted by Gale, who flew up a little, then dived straight down, flipping around and then slamming both feet squarely into the monster's back, causing it to fall face-down. Then just as soon as his teammate hopped off, Robin pulled out a trio of explosive disks and hurled them with perfect aim at the monster's head, drawing out a cry of pain and kicking up a cloud of smoke.

However, a split moment later, the monster stood up again and started to run towards Robin and Starfire, who turned around and ran the opposite direction. They both ran until coming to the edge of the pathway, then jumped over top, the creature following them even then. As they were falling down towards a pit containing some sort of pink substance, they grabbed hands, Starfire flying back up and past the creature. Apparently it did not possess the power of flight, since it continued falling down until it splashed into the vat of pink liquid.

"Good job," Cyborg commented once they were back on the same level.

"Sweet!" Beast Boy added.

"Nice," Raven pitched in, even sounding a little impressed.

"Smart move," Gale said with a similar tone of voice.

"Great work Starfire," Robin complimented his Tamaranian friend, gently bumping his fist against her shoulder.

"I could not have done it without your assistance." She then hit him back, although with much more enthusiasm and strength, accidently knocking him down to the floor.

"Uhh… nice arm," he said a bit hesitantly upon getting, rubbing his shoulder, which did pain him, although he wouldn't necessarily admit it.

"I too admire your abundant limb strength," she replied with a bright smile.

"Let's go," Cyborg suggested. "Unless you'd rather stay here goofing around with your girlfriend," he added, winking suggestively at the pair of them.

Robin immediately froze, eyes bulging behind his mask at this. He then tried to calm down a little, breathing in deeply while Beast Boy, Cyborg, and even Raven and Gale to a certain extent, were smiling at his discomfort. "She's not my girlfriend!" he declared loudly, causing the girl in question to gasp.

"I am not your friend?" she inquired curiously.

"Uhh…" The moment was interrupted by a loud roaring sound that shook their surroundings a little. Robin then ran over to the side of the pathway, looking down to see the monster they'd just been fighting who was making its way up the pit of pink liquid.

"I am not a girl?" Starfire asked, despite the pending threat.

"Maybe this isn't the best time," Robin stated.

"If I am not your girlfriend, then what am I?" she demanded. Robin suddenly developed an interesting touch of red in his cheeks, looking at Starfire, then the monster who'd just hopped back onto the pathway, then from one to another again. The monster, which judging by appearances, seemed to have learned that launching its sonic shriek in Gale's direction directly was mostly futile, aimed its scream in other directions.

"She's gonna blow!" Cyborg stated as the station started to come down around their heads a little.

"Titans, run!" Robin ordered as the monster came charging at them. All of them then did just that, avoiding pieces of the ceiling falling down around them. The monster, seemingly having already forgotten about Gale, planted its arms onto the floor, opened its mouth and sent out a sonic shriek at them. Fortunately, Gale sensed this coming and with a flick of his powers, changed the flow, so that instead of throwing them forward unceremoniously, it gently sped up their race to the T-Ship. "Let's get out of here!" The Titans all jumped into their respective pods, with Robin in the head, Starfire and Raven at the wings, Beast Boy in the middle, and Cyborg and Gale at the rear. The circular pod which the ship was standing on turned around at the same time as the doors opened up. Then, just as the monster was close, the thrusters activated, blasting the monster and propelling the T-Ship outside.

"Better hang on tight!" Cyborg warned the others as the station began to fall apart. They braced themselves as best they could, while the space station exploded in a rather spectacular way, sending out a shockwave which hit the Titans' ship, causing them to spin around, and around, and around some more. Finally, after a moment, they stopped spinning, much to their relief.

"Is everyone okay?" Robin asked.

"Define okay," Raven shot back, feeling a little sick from all the spinning.

"I've been better," Gale added, sounding about the same as Raven.

All of a sudden, the T-Ship was rocked as something collided with it. 'Something' turned out to be nothing more than the bulky monster they'd fought, which hung onto the T-Ship's hull and didn't let go. "Can't this thing take a hint?" Beast Boy said rhetorically.

"I think we can shake it," Robin said as the monster began to scream. "Don't separate. I repeat, don't separate."

Unfortunately, what the others heard was "I repeat… separate. I repeat… separate," before their communications went off. Given the misunderstanding, Robin could but watch helplessly as his friends split apart, leaving him alone with the monster attached to his pod. Faced with this, he forced his mini-ship down towards a nearby orange planet which they were all headed for. Spiraling, turning sharply and doing other such sudden moves allowed Robin to rid himself of the large parasite, though gravity was now taking effect, pulling him closer and closer to the planet's surface, into a string of red clouds, crashing through a bunch of black tree tops, and coming to a stop upside-down in one of the larger trees' branches.

A moment later, he kicked the hatch away, then freed himself from the pod, dropped down to a lower branch and pulled out his communicator. "Titans, come in. Are you alright? Titans!" Despite his tries, he received nothing more than static. "Cyborg," he called out, his voice echoing in the distance. "Beast Boy… Raven… Gale… Starfire!" Hearing no reply of any sort in return, Robin merely sat down on the branch and sighed.

* * *

Over in a different part of this same planet, Beast Boy had managed to pull off an almost passable crash-landing, although he still felt a little roughed up all the same. After kicking away the hatch, he flopped a few feet down to the ground, landing in a heap. After remaining in his strange position for few moments, he happened to notice the pod Cyborg had been in, which was now standing straight up, with its nose in the ground. The shape-shifter got to his feet and ran over to the pod, seeing that it was empty, then heard a noise coming from one of the trees. He then ran over to the source of this noise, seeing one of Cyborg's legs sticking out from the foliage. "Cyborg!" he exclaimed upon seeing his friend's appendage. "Dude, am I glad to see…" the green teenager stopped mid-sentence and cried out when the metal leg fell from the tree, revealing to him that there was nothing else attached. "What happened to you?" he asked himself as he picked up the leg. "I'm going to miss you. I know I never told you this, but you were my best friend."

Beast Boy's moment of sadness was interrupted by the sound of Cyborg's voice. "Yo, Beast Boy!" he called out, startling the teenager in question. "I'm over here." Still carrying his friend's leg, he walked over to a bunch of bushes, pushed them apart, then dropped the leg and screamed the second he came upon the sight of Cyborg's head sitting on the ground.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU'RE JUST A HEAD!"

"I'm alright," the robotic super hero reassured him, pulling out his arms which ended before the elbows, revealing that his main body was intact, and only half buried. "Just… some assembly required. Now get a grip on your green butt and dig me outta here." Beast Boy then changed into a hound dog and started to dig up some purple dirt, with Cyborg mumbling unhappily when some of it was flung into his face.

* * *

And in yet another part of the strange alien planet, Raven was lying unconscious on the ground, having fallen from her pod before it had come to a landing. The dark haired girl was lying spread out on her back as her consciousness was slowly returning to her. When she finally came around, she opened up her eyes, seeing a mass of strange white creatures with purple eyes and dressed in orange who were surrounding her. "Okay, you have me outnumbered." After saying this, she stood up, the strange creatures looking higher, and higher, and higher and higher, given that the young girl was towering over them, due to their diminutive size. "But I have you outsized. Weird…"

"Weird…" the white dwarfish creatures chorused in light voices. "Shala!"

'Okay…' Raven thought to herself. 'This is seriously weird.'

* * *

Some distance from Raven's current location, Gale had been lucky enough to crash his pod into a spot where the ground was just soft enough to not make the landing quite as hard as it could have been. After coming to a stop, he tried to get out, but found the hatch stuck in place, a situation he easily remedied by blasting it away with his powers. That done, he stepped out and started to look at his surroundings, unfortunately seeing no trace of his friends, only that he was in a clearing of sorts, surrounded by a forest of blackish vines poking out of the ground. "Okay… strange place I chose to land," he muttered to himself.

The elemental Titan then stretched out his arms, legs and wings, trying to feel out how well off he was in general. After his analysis, he discovered that he had a few bruises, fortunately none of which were particularly bad, and that his left wing was bothering him, due to it being strained. "Hmm, at least it's nothing serious," he said to himself, referring to his wing. "Still, better avoid flying for now to make sure it doesn't get any worse." Those words said, he went off into the forest of vines, clearing a path for himself with his transparent sword when he needed to.

* * *

Back with Robin, the Boy Wonder was just getting out of a similar patch of vines as Gale was going through, cutting up a bunch with a birdarang, then pushing aside the last ones and walking into a clear area. His eyes widened a little in surprise, since he could see Starfire's pod lying on the ground. He ran through the trail the pod had made when landing before it stopped, then jumped on it and pulled the hatch off. "Starfire," he said once it was open, only to have something shove him off.

He quickly flipped to his feet and distanced himself from the mysterious attacker. The attacker in question turned out to be a six legged creature with dark green skin, a darker green underbelly, and beady yellowish eyes. "What did you do to Starfire?" he demanded, seeing a piece of purple cloth dangling from one of its fangs. In response, the creature only growled and charged at him. Robin ran forward to meet its charge, tackling it so that they both tumbled down a slope, until hitting a large rock column, held back by a sticky yellow substance for a moment, before splitting apart and continuing their fall.

Robin regained his balance and slid down the slope, while the creature tumbled and rolled until it smacked onto even ground. It then started to get up on its hind legs, only to have the Titans' leader come in with a flying kick and plant his foot square in its torso. He then tried to punch with one arm, then the other, but both only ended up getting stuck in the creature's sluggish body. Robin was then forced to bring up his free foot to block the monster's incoming jaws, pressing against this solid part of its body hard enough to fly free.

The creature growled in annoyance a little as the holes in its torso closed shut, and then it charged towards Robin again, who found his feet impeded by the gooey substance keeping them on the ground. He tried to throw one of his disks, but it snapped back to his hand because of the goo. The creature then knocked him on his back and held him pinned down, but before it could do anything further, a stone arrow came sailing out of nowhere, hitting the creature and causing it to pop like a balloon, spewing a load of gooey substance.

Robin looked around, seeing a figure standing a short distance away. The figure stepped forward, revealing it to be Starfire, who was holding a short bow in one hand. "Starfire!" he exclaimed, jumping up and shaking off all the goo. "You're alright!"

"Greetings to you, fellow Titan Robin," she said, at which he stopped in tracks before her. "To see you unharmed is satisfying."

"Starfire?" he spoke up, visibly confused.

"We should make with the haste to find the others."

"What's wrong with you?" he asked as she walked by him. The only answer he got was her turning around and going 'humph', which confused him even further, even though he still followed her.

* * *

Sometime later, Raven was finding herself still in the company of the strange, and rather small, white creatures which she had named 'Shalas', due to their habit of saying that every time they spoke even a single word. "I have to go find my friends," she told them, walking away, although they still followed her.

"Friends… Shala."

"Cute…" she said with a tone of annoyance, then turned back, waving them away. "Shoo!"

"Shoo… Shala."

Raven then tried to fly away, but was prevented from lifting off more than a few feet from the ground when the puny aliens grabbed the end of her cloak. "Hey, stop that!"

"Stop that… Shala!"

"I'm not joking!"

"Joking… Shala!"

"I tried to be nice," Raven said in a serious tone, putting up her hood and preparing to use her powers on them. "Azarath, Metrion, Zin-" the teen sorceress was prevented from finishing her chant when the Shalas yanked on her cloak, causing her to fall back down on the ground. "Don't, go away!"

"Don't go away! Don't go away! Don't go away! Shala!"

* * *

Over in his corner of the unknown planet, Gale had just cleared the edge of the forest of vines, allowing his sword to fade away as he stepped out. "Finally," he muttered, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand as he took in his new surroundings. This time he was in an area where the vegetation was limited to short stubby trees, with the ground being rather dry. Thanks to his eagle eyes, he could see land not too far away that looked a bit livelier. After walking forward for a moment, he suddenly broke into a run, and stopped when he came upon the sight of Raven's pod lying sideways on the ground. "Raven!"

After sliding down a slight slope, he looked around, but only ended up finding out that the hatch was open, and the sorceress in question was nowhere to be seen. "Damn, where is she?" he wondered. He then breathed in deeply and was going to shout out her name, when he suddenly interrupted himself and dived sideways. An unknown creature slammed into the ground where he'd been standing a second ago. Gale took in its appearance as he was standing a short distance from it, seeing that it had four short, but strong legs, a green hide, light blue eyes and overall looked sort of like a wolf, albeit a small and somewhat pudgy one.

"Rarrrrrrrrrr!" the creature cried out, showing rows of sharp looking teeth.

"You can't be friendly," Gale said as he stood still, while the creature charged straight at him on all fours. He waited for a moment, then suddenly conjured a barrier of air in front of himself, which the alien monster had the misfortune of running straight into. Gale then dispersed the barrier and put both hands together, charging up a beam of wind. Just as he was about to release this attack, his ears picked up on a sound from behind, alerting him to the fact that something else was coming at him. Using the air underneath, he shot himself upward, doing an empowered back flip, while an identical pudgy green wolf slammed into the first. Falling back on the ground, Gale unleashed the beam of wind he'd been storing, the attack shooting forward in the same general manner as Starfire's eyebeams, blasting both creatures to bits when it struck.

Just as he finished with these two creatures, Gale looked to the side and found himself staring at a creature with the same colors as the last one, except that it was three times his height, and looked like a giant centipede with a large torso and arms. "Eat!" the creature said, revealing a smaller number of sharp teeth, on one of which was a piece of Raven's cloak.

"Where's Raven?" Gale demanded in an icy cold tone of voice.

"**Eat! Eat! Eat!**" the creature repeated, a fat black tongue snaking its way out of its mouth, licking its lips in anticipation.

"That's all you can say?"

"EAT!"

"So be it." Gale pulled together a large spike of air, then sent it flying forward, plunging it straight into the creature's torso and out the other side, tearing a big hole and causing some of its front legs to lift up as it fell back a little. But a split moment later, the creature righted itself, to Gale's surprise and annoyance, a grayish sludge started to drip from the top of the gaping hole, going on until a short moment later when it filled up and looked as if nothing had happened. "Okay… this might make things harder than I thought."

"**EAT!**" the creature cried out loudly, then charged forward with surprising speed. Gale materialized a circular platform of air, which he hopped on and used it to get out of the way just in time, one of the monster's fists making a small crater where he'd been standing a moment ago.

"If only I could remember how to summon that eagle I used against Malchior," Gale muttered to himself as he continued to fly out of the creature's reach on his disk of air. "That'd probably beat him in no time." The creature then picked up a large branch and hurled it up at him. Against this, he sent forth a blade of air, slicing the branch in two, although part of it still smacked him in the side of the head. Ignoring the pain, Gale summoned a small tornado, picking up a handful of embers and sending them towards the creature. Although there weren't many, they produced a visible effect, burning the skin severely, causing the monster to howl loudly in pain as it brushed them off.

"So, you're weak against fire, eh?" Gale noted. With that little discovery, he set about leading the creature towards a cliff, past which he could see heat shimmering in the air. As they got closer, the air started to get little hotter, although there was no trace of fire yet, so the creature continued after him regardless. When they arrived at the cliff in question, a good drop below, there was a river of lava running across. The alien monster stopped in its tracks near the edge, given that Gale had managed to disappear from its sight. Looking around in confusion, it spotted him standing on the ground just behind as he tapped deeply into his powers and unleashed a powerful gust of wind, pushing it closer towards the edge.

"**EAT!**" the creature shouted as it planted its legs into the ground, struggling, but successfully preventing itself from backing too far.

"Damn it!" Gale cursed as he poured on as much power as he could, the howling winds only able to push his target back a few inches before things came to a standstill. Sweat started to trickle a bit down his forehead, though he ignored it, pushing all his willpower into defeating this alien monster. Then, all of a sudden, a memory that wasn't his own flashed in the forefront of his mind, and the gust of wind stopped. As if sensing its victory, the creature got out of its defensive position and went to charge at the winged boy. Unfortunately for the monster, at that moment, the same giant eagle made of air that had battered Malchior appeared above its master. It screeched loudly and zoomed straight towards its target, slamming hard into the alien monster. The eagle swept its prey clean off its feet, carrying it back and dropping it into the river of lava below. The creature let out a final cry as its body burst into flame upon contact with the lava, burning up a few seconds later.

"That was a close one," Gale muttered. He then looked at the giant eagle for a moment, nodding to it, before it faded away and he turned around to continue looking for his friends.

* * *

Over on Robin and Starfire's end, the two of them were walking along a dry path with few trees, most of them stubby and scalded. "Starfire, wait up," the Boy Wonder called out to his alien friend, who mostly ignored him and simply kept walking forward. "Star… why do you keep running away from me?" he asked once he'd caught up with her.

"I am giving you the space," she replied, hopping onto a large rock pillar standing in a river of lava, then jumping to the other side. "Is that not what you require?"

"You're still thinking about that?" he asked, incredulous. "Starfire, we're stranded on a hostile alien planet."

The alien girl came to a stop on a rocky platform and turned to face Robin, who stood at the same spot. "I know. Were you hoping that the perilous space station explosion, followed by our calamitous crash, then combat with the horrible slug creature would make me forget?"

"Uhh… yes?" he said hesitantly.

Giving him a stern look, she continued walking along the dry path. "Perhaps we would have more success if we searched the left half of this planet and I searched the right."

"I don't want to split up!" Robin said hastily. "Look… will you please just stop and talk to me?"

"So, you are now prepared to explain why I am neither a girl, nor your friend?" In response to this, Robin only tugged at his collar as he mumbled nervous, incoherent words. "It appears that the grishnik has got your tongue."

"Should've let that slug eat me when I have the chance," Robin muttered unhappily, continuing to follow Starfire. However, unknown to either of them, a pile of dirt and rocks some distance behind suddenly moved and was tossed away as the large brown monster from the space station got to its feet again.

* * *

Back on Beast Boy and Cyborg's end, the two teenagers' situation was finally starting to come around in their favour. After much intensive search, and distraction on Beast Boy's part, they had managed to get together practically all of Cyborg's missing pieces. Then, following his robotic friend's very simplified, yet still suffering more than one mishap, Beast Boy managed to attach Cyborg's legs arms and other missing bits. "There we go," the green Titan declared. "One fully assembled Cyborg... well, almost," he added, taking into account the fact that Cyborg was still missing his hands.

"Let's try to get the T-Ship flying," Cyborg suggested. "First, interlock the two pods." Beast Boy merely blinked, a somewhat dimwitted expression on his face. "Just stick em back together." The changeling then became a yeti, picking up his pod, dragging over to Cyborg's and smacking them together until his friend intervened, talking him through the correct procedure. "Now, carefully take out the configuration disk."

Beast Boy reverted to his normal form and opened up a panel where his friend pointed at. He then dove in and after some clambering about, he came out with one of the pieces. "You mean the thingy that looks like a slice of pizza with eyeballs," he said, holding up the object in question.

"Why can't you just call it a configuration disk?" Cyborg asked, exasperated by his friend's simple-mindedness.

"Why can't you just call it an eyeball pizza thingy?" he asked in return, causing his friend to mumble unhappily under his breath.

* * *

While this was happening, Robin and Starfire had come to a spot where the ground was filled with a spider web of cracks, the rocks shaking a little as bouts of steam rose from in between. "I hope we can find the others… soon," the Boy Wonder said.

"Shh, the ground in very unstable here," Starfire pointed out.

"Look, Star, I-" Robin then had the misfortune of putting his foot in the wrong place, stepping on a rock that wasn't quite stable. The ground underneath him exploded, catapulting him in the air, on a trajectory aimed towards a river of lava below. Fortunately, he was saved from a grisly fate when his Tamaranian friend caught his hand. "Thanks," he said after she pulled him up. That done, she turned around and started walking in the direction they'd previously been going. "Look," he began upon catching up with her. "It's not that I don't like you…"

"It is that you do not like me as a friend who is a girl," she finished for him.

Robin remained silent for a bit as they continued moving on, splitting apart at a fissure spewing red steam, each walking on different sides. "I don't think you understand. On our planet, girlfriend means-"

"A female with whom you have a pleasant and special association," she interrupted. "Including the sharing of enjoyable recreation and occasionally the buying of bountiful floral arrangements."

"Okaaaay, maybe you do understand," he said, coming to a stop.

"What?" Starfire called out to him, given that their respective paths had had them drift apart from each other. The ground on which both of them were standing suddenly collapsed before they knew it, causing both of them to fall down a dark ravine. Robin managed to jump onto a ledge, while Starfire was slightly less lucky, given that she was hanging from a large, but not so stable rock, sticking out from the opposite side.

"Starfire, fly!" Robin urged her.

"I cannot!" she said. With a stroke of misfortune, the rock that Starfire was hanging onto broke, causing her to continue her descent into darkness. Robin immediately sprang into action, diving off the ledge, falling down until he reached his friend, both of them holding onto each other. They then happened to spot the entrance to a cave, at which Robin pulled out his grappling hook, swinging them across and into the tunnel safely, just as rocks closed up the entrance, sealing them in.

* * *

Over at Raven's end, the young sorceress in question was having a far more enjoyable time than her friends. She was currently lying on her stomach, on a wide elevated platform with a soft purple covering. Hordes of the 'Shalas' were surrounding her, and treating her almost as if she were a queen in her palace. A dozen or so of them were standing on her back and legs, jumping up and down to massage her, while six more were fanning her with a large leaf. Another bunch were stacked on top of each other, holding up a bunch of grapes for her to eat from, at the same time as a few others were carrying various fruits or drinks. "Hmm, this is nice," she said, very much enjoying herself at the moment.

"Nice... Shala!" her hosts spoke up.

The peaceful atmosphere kept up, until Raven let out a small cry because of the massage she was receiving, although it still felt quite good. However, without having her in their line of sight, someone else might have interpreted this in a different manner. "RAVEN!" Gale's voice was heard shouting from a short distance away.

"Gale?" the teenage girl in question wondered, looking in the direction his voice had come from. The winged boy suddenly burst onto the scene, a fierce and determined expression on his face, holding his sword in both hands. He stopped in his tracks upon noticing his friend lying there, his mouth dropping open, a stunned expression on his face.

"Uhhhhhhh..."

"Oh, hi Gale," Raven responded, motioning for him to come over. Allowing his sword to fade away, he materialized a platform of air to take him up to her level. Then, although still a little surprised by what he was seeing, he lay down next to Raven, at her and the Shalas suggestion. "They may be a little weird, but they're pretty friendly," she reassured him as they began to tend to him as well.

"They're sure friendlier than the last few creatures I've seen on this planet," he said, sighing in contentment as they started to gently massage his wings, relieving the strained area. "So, how'd you end up here?"

"I pretty much just woke up surrounded by these little guys," she answered. "Then they insisted that I stay, and here I am. What about you?"

"Well, I crashed in the middle of a vine forest and cut my way across until I came upon your pod. Then I got attacked by a pair of pudgy green wolves, and after beating them there was this giant caterpillar thing that was pretty tough. And after walking a bit I got to this place here."

"Sounds like you ran into a fair bit of trouble," Raven commented.

"Yeah... but it was all worth it for you... to see you! I mean, to see that you're alright!" Both Gale and Raven's cheeks turned a little red because of the former's words.

"Alright... Shala!"

* * *

Back with Beast Boy and Cyborg, the two Titans in question were currently in the T-Ship. They had managed to find Gale's pod, so that they now had the two rear halves attached to the center piece. At the moment, Beast Boy was sitting in the center part, flying the T-Ship, although it was still rather wobbly, even with Cyborg helping him out by giving instructions. "Look, this isn't rocket science!" Cyborg said, fed up with his friend's almost nonexistent technological abilities. "... Okay, so it rocket science, but it's not that hard!"

"It'd be a lot easier if you'd stop yelling at me in techno-lingo," the green teenager replied.

Cyborg sighed as the T-Ship dived down and almost rolled over, before being righted again. "Just ease up on the cylinder bypass, and give a little gas to the turbo." A slight beeping sound suddenly started up, as they were coming dangerously close to a rock wall straight in front. "Ahh! Engage the thruster mechanism!" the half metal teen said urgently. Beast Boy worriedly looked around at the bunch of levers and buttons in his pod, not having any idea whatsoever on what to do. "Pull the red candy cane thingamawhosit now!" Finally able to understand, Beast Boy reached for a red and white lever on his right, pulling it back, opening a set of flaps on the T-Ship's underbelly, which blasted them further up, just clearing the top of the cliff.

* * *

Sometime later, in the same cave that they'd forcibly gone into, the Boy Wonder and the Tamaranian girl were sitting around a fire that they'd managed to light up using dry roots and a few other stray pieces of wood as combustible. "Starfire..." Robin spoke up, breaking the awkward silence. "What happened back there? Why couldn't you fly?"

"Tamaranian powers are inclined by our emotions," she answered solemnly.

"So then, the way you feel affects your ability to fly?"

Starfire nodded at this before speaking up again. "And right now, I feel an unfamiliar confusion."

"But... we've faced danger before," he pointed out. "And your powers didn't fail then."

"It is not danger that confuses me, Robin. It is you... I do not understand... us." The Titan leader gulped as his friend looked at him, unsettled by her words. "Ever since Cyborg said, the girlfriend, things are different between us."

"It's just a... misunderstanding," Robin said hastily, not sounding too convincing. "Everything's okay."

"No, not everything is okay," she said sadly, standing up and walking away from the fire. "We are not okay, and I fell we will never okay again. And you will not tell me how you feel."

"Uhh... I'm... not very good at that kind of thing," he said nervously, standing up to join her.

"Do earth boys come with some kind of manual?" she inquired innocently, causing him to smile at this.

"That would sure make things a lot easier."

"Then... how am I to know what you think about me?"

"Starfire... I think, uhh... it's... awesome, the way you shoot starbolts..."

"Yes... and?" she urged him to continue, a happier expression on her face than had been for a while.

"It's... also cool, that you're brave and the strongest girl ever," Robin spoke, loosening up a little as he went on.

"And you do not mind having a friend who is a girl?"

"Mind it? Actually, I kind of like-" Robin was interrupted mid-sentence when the wall next to their fire was broken through, the large brown monster from the space station entering the cave, punctuating its arrival by screaming. The two titans dived out of the way, Robin gracefully cart-wheeling and landing crouched on his feet. Starfire watched from the sidelines as her friend went after their enemy, dodging its blows, hopping onto a rock, which was crushed a second later, and jumping up at the monster, delivering a kick to its face with perfect precision, although it did little damage. Angered by this, it continued to swipe at the Boy Wonder, and managed to catch him in the chest, flinging him a short distance away, though he was still able to get up easily enough.

Starfire's eyes suddenly glowed bright green, just as the creature punched through another rock, close to where Robin had previously been. Running to assist her friend, she fired her eyebeams at the creature's back, causing it to turn around, only to get hit by them again, this time straight in its face. She then jumped over, firing her eyebeams and launching a pair of starbolts, which was followed by Robin getting pulling out a metallic staff and striking it hard in the head. They kept pummeling their enemy for a bit, until Starfire picked up a boulder, then hurled it once Robin was out of the way, causing its target to stumble.

It then let out a cry of what could be perceived as pain, when Starfire picked up another, longer rock, using it like a baseball bat, with the creature as the ball, flying into a wall. Robin and Starfire stood at the ready as the brown monster got to its feet again, launching a sound wave at them. Not bothering to stick around, they hurriedly ran away from it, the attack clearing a hole through the rubble that had previously been blocking the entrance. Just as the creature opened its mouth to scream again, Robin hurled a disk, which split open into a path of gum like substance, effectively covering its mouth. He then shot out a grapple, which latched onto its arm, but before he could do more, it yanked back, pulling him off his feet, then swung him around until he smacked into Starfire, causing both of them to fall out on the ledge before the entrance.

Tossing aside his now useless grappling hook handle, Robin turned towards his friend. "Let's fly," he said.

"But..." she spoke up, looking down at the ravine with worry in her eyes.

Robin grabbed her hand, giving her a reassuring smile. "As long as we're together, we'll be okay." The two of them waited for a moment, until the monster jumped, at which they leapt out of the way, the creature's bulky form going through the rock's edge and falling down the ravine. After a moment of falling, Starfire started to fly, pulling her friend back up until they were safely standing on high ground again.

"Robin..." she said in a grateful tone, and then they hugged one another, conveying their feelings for one another without words. The two Titans looked to the side, seeing the T-Ship, now completely put back together, if still looking a little bit roughed up, coming to a halt and hovering near them, with Cyborg and Beast Boy each in their own pods. "Friends! It is glorious to see you!"

"Are we gonna be able to fly home in that?" Robin asked.

"Just missing a few pieces... like me," Cyborg answered, holding up his arms, still missing hands.

"Somebody's waving at us," Beast Boy noted, pointing at a tree off to the side. A moment later, he realized that it was in fact, both of Cyborg's hands. "And it's you!"

"Well alright!" Cyborg said happily.

"Hey, have either of you guys seen Raven or Gale?" Robin inquired.

"I hope that they are not suffering from the atrocities so abundant on this planet," Starfire said in a concerned tone of voice.

* * *

Still lying down on the soft mat in the same corner of the planet, while being tended to by the little white alien dwarfs, Raven and Gale were peacefully enjoying the moment. "A little to the left," the young sorceress muttered as the Shalas were jumping up and down on her back.

"Left... Shala!" they said in their usual tone.

"You know..." Gale spoke up, reaching for a pear like fruit on a plate before him, while a bunch of the Shalas were busy brushing his wings with many little combs. "I have a feeling that we forgot something. Although I can't remember what it is."

"Don't worry about it," Raven reassured him. "I doubt it's important."

* * *

So, I hope you liked this chapter, and please review, it is much appreciated, even constructive criticism.

By the way, the Titans head for Tokyo in the next chapter. I might make it a 2 part thing if its too big.


	20. Trouble in Tokyo  Part 1

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE TEEN TITANS!

Note: There will be references to characters from 'Bleach' in this chapter.

And now... enjoy!

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Trouble in Tokyo – Part 1**

It was another beautiful day in the bustling metropolis of Jump City. Throngs of pedestrians were walking on the sidewalks, the people were busy at work inside, and the streets were experiencing the usual days to day load of cars trucks and other vehicles moving about. Not too far away from the city's mainland, at the island housing Titans' Tower, Gale, the winged titan, was sitting by himself on the rooftop. He was sitting cross legged, hands on his knees, eyes closed in concentration and chanting '_Aer, Ventus, Caelum_.'

As he was doing this, Raven just so happened to walk through the doorway leading onto the rooftop. She watched her friend for a moment, feeling how the air was swirling around him. "Hey, Raven," he called out to her, breaking off his concentration and turning around to look at her.

"Hey," she replied. "Didn't mean to interrupt your meditation."

"Don't worry about that," he said dismissively. "It's nice to have company. I was actually about to try this new trick I came up with not too long ago. Would you mind helping me out?"

"Of course, no problem. What do you need me to do?"

"Well, to start, you can just sit down here," he pointed in front of himself. The pale skinned girl obliged, sitting face to face with her friend in the same manner as he was. "Now, just try not to move too much." Raven watched with interest as Gale concentrated, feeling the air swirling about, gently brushing against her skin. She remained silent throughout the ordeal, which lasted less than a minute. "There, I'm done," Gale announced.

"Done with what?" she asked, curious as to exactly what had happened.

"Just a second…" Gale muttered, using his powers to pick up a simple hand mirror that was lying nearby, then holding it out for Raven to see herself. However, to her surprise, it was not her own face that was looking back at her. The mirror glass showed someone with shoulder length, emerald colored hair, green almond eyes, skin of darker shade, bright red lips, and no chakra stone on their forehead.

"What the-!" she exclaimed in surprise, not at all expecting to see something of the sort. She brought her free hand to her face, touching all the spots that had changed. Upon looking down, she could see herself wearing a white t-shirt and blue shorts. "I still feel normal, but… I look all different. Did you cast an illusion over me?"

"Exactly right," he said. "The way it works is that I move air about so that it settles in a way that reflects light however I want it to. I haven't tried making illusions out of thin air just like that yet, mostly because it's easier to have it attached to someone or something."

"Wow, that's cool," Raven said, sounding rather impressed.

"Heh, thanks," he replied, a sheepish smile on his face.

"_Oh, you two look so cute together_," an unknown voice spoke up. The two teenagers looked in the direction it had come from, and saw a boyish looking figure floating over the edge of the rooftop, no taller than an eleven year old, who was blurry and transparent, except for a face with a visibly mischievous expression.

"Ahem, who are you supposed to be?" Raven asked, herself and Gale blushing a little. "And for that matter, what are you supposed to be?"

"_Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself. My name is-_"

"Iocus," Gale finished the sentence. "You're a wind spirit."

The figure clapped its hands in delight. "_Marvelous! Well done, my lord!_"

"You're a wind spirit and you have a name that means joke?" Raven said. "Gale… how did you know this before he even said so?"

"I… I'm not sure," he answered. "The fact that he's a wind spirit, I could feel it, and I've actually seen a few before, but his name… it's like… it just popped into my head somehow."

"Strange…" Raven muttered, curious and interested by this. "So, Iocus… what are you doing here then?"

"_I was simply drifting through the area, when I thought of how good it would be to see my lord… and his lady friend,_" he added suggestively.

"Why do you and all the other spirits I've met call me 'my lord'?" Gale asked, ignoring the second part.

"_Because it would be improper of us to address you otherwise. After all, you are your father's son._"

"You knew my father?"

"_Yes, of course. I… ooops!_" The wind spirit's face betrayed that he had been about to say something he hadn't meant to.

"You what?"

"_I… I'm sorry, my lord, but I cannot tell you_," Iocus said. "_I am forbidden from revealing to you that which you want to know._"

"Why-?" Gale began, but was interrupted when the alarm went off. "Let's go then," he said to Raven.

The female titan cleared her throat as they stood up. "If you'd be so kind," she said, indicating her still changed appearance.

"Oh, right." Gale then snapped his fingers, at which the illusion around his friend faded away and they flew off to join their teammates.

"_Fear not, you will see him when the time comes,_" the wind spirit whispered as he watched them go, then drifted away.

* * *

At one of the busier streets of Jump City, a man wearing a half blue and half pink body suit with a utility belt and strange helmet was wreaking havoc. Reaching into his belt, he pulled out a handful of objects resembling shuriken with four spikes, then tossed them amidst the cars moving about, the weapons exploding upon contact. A public bus came to a stop before this villain, the people rushing out as he held another exploding shuriken in one hand, ready to throw.

However, before he could do this, a birdarang came out of nowhere and knocked it out of his hand. Right after, a green eagle came dive bombing after him, which he ducked, then jumped over a beam of wind and sonic cannon blast, then back flipped, avoiding blasts of green and black energy, landing on a lamppost with the grace of a feline. He then looked in the direction the attacks had come from, in which he could see all six of the Teen Titans standing atop a parked bus.

"Since you're new in town, we're going to make it very simple," Robin spoke up as he caught his birdarang.

"Stop now," Starfire said firmly.

"Yeah man. The locals don't like it when you blow up their stuff," Cyborg added.

"Put your hands in the air and-" Robin was interrupted when the strange villain hopped off his perch, blue and pink energy shooting from the pack on his back, allowing him to fly away.

"Hands in the air, dude! Not your whole body!" Beast Boy shouted.

"Tourists," Raven scoffed.

"Titans, go!" Robin called out, giving his famed battle cry. Starfire, Raven and Gale all took to the air, while Beast Boy, Robin and Cyborg jumped off, the first changing into a cheetah, the second hoping onto the R-Cycle, and the third taking the T-Car.

"Anybody got a clue what this genius if after?" Raven asked as they chased after their target.

"Who cares what he wants, what he's getting is a helping of grade A butt whoop!" Cyborg exclaimed.

"Alright team, let's see what he's made of." Robin then pressed a button, at which a pair of small rockets extended from each side of the R-Cycle. They shot out towards the pink and blue villain, who flew back, allowing them to pass him, then threw a pair of shurikens, causing both rockets to explode. Gale formed a wall of air in front of himself as they passed by their enemy, kicking off to go in the opposite direction at the same time as Beast Boy stopped in his tracks and turned around to keep up the chase.

The two green boys followed him down an alleyway, where he promptly did a 180 and threw a handful of shurikens at them. Beast Boy changed into a turtle, retreating into his shell, while Gale halted in mid-air, crossing his arms in front of him and pulling together a transparent shield. And though both Titans remained unharmed due to their quick thinking, their target still had enough time to fly past them.

A flurry of starbolts and black energy shots greeted the odd villain as he flew out the alley, though he dodged them all, flying higher. As Raven and Starfire flew after him, he pulled out a set of nun chucks, deflecting those of their attacks which came too close, then allowed himself to free fall, his pack firing up again after that. Before Cyborg and Robin had time to do anything, they were forced to use their driving skills to swerve around another series of explosive pellets sent their way. And when Beast Boy, in the form of an eagle, dove after him, he dodged below, throwing a nun chuck which exploded right in front of him, making him fall, though he caught himself on the black energy disk which Raven was now standing on to fly.

"Okay, am I the only one who's sick of these explody things?" Beast Boy asked as he pulled himself up so that he was sitting on his teammate's flying energy disk.

"Does this look like a taxi to you?" Raven shot back.

"No, it's way to flat and circly," he answered. In response to this, Raven waved her hands, causing a hole to appear in the black construct, which Beast Boy fell through, turning into a pterodactyl to avoid hitting the pavement.

Cyborg then zoomed by, making a beeline for the flying scoundrel, who turned around, while still moving away from them, and pulled out a shuriken from his belt. "I know you're not throwing that in my car," he said, sticking an arm out the window and changing it into his sonic cannon. He then shot a blast of blue energy which blew off the projectile weapon, as well as the hand it was in and the entire arm. However, the arm soon grew back, changing a few colors before returning to normal. "How did he do that?" the cybernetic teen asked, surprised. The villain sudden threw another shuriken, which pierced the windshield and stuck into the seat next to Cyborg, beeping dangerously. "Aww man." Quickly, he pulled off his seatbelt, opened the door and grabbed Beast Boy's Pterodactyl feet hovering beside him, escaping from his car that blew up a moment later.

"Excuse me, but…" Starfire said, gently tapping their enemy on the shoulder while flying above him. "I did not wish to do this while you were not looking." The tamaranian tried to punch him, but he simply moved out of the way, and grabbed her arm, swinging her down and dropping a pair of shurikens which blew up and made her fall further. And just in time, Robin came passing by, grabbing her by the hand and lifting her on the back of the R-Cycle.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I am now," she answered.

"Then hang on." The Boy Wonder then revved up the engine, engaging a pair of thrusters which propelled them into the air and above the guard of the overpass, landing safely on the street below. Their villain straight in front of them, Robin clicked a button on his bike, which shot out a flurry of small energy pellets, one of which just clipped him, making him grab onto the corner of a building and go down a side alley.

"But he went…" Starfire began as they zoomed right past him.

"Down a dead end," Robin said. They drove a little further, and then their target burst through a building, prompting the Boy Wonder to shoot at him again. Agile as always, he nimbly avoided getting hit, and flew past a railroad, a train passing by right after. Just as Robin was forced to come to a stop, a transparent ramp of air came into existence before them, at which he revved his bike and went up the ramp and onto the train's top. "Starfire, fly!" Robin cried out as they were arriving to a curve in the track, prompting the alien girl to hold her friend tight and fly up, the bike dropping off onto the ground below. The pair was soon joined by Gale, Raven and Cyborg being carried by a pterodactyl Beast Boy.

"Think we scared him off?" Raven asked.

"No," Robin answered. "He's headed straight for-"

"Titans Tower!" Cyborg exclaimed. The strange villain flew around the Titans' home, throwing his explosive shurikens at random, blowing holes everywhere. "You're gonna lose a lot more than an arm this time!" Cyborg let go with one hand as Beast Boy flew up towards their enemy, taking a few unsuccessful shots at him. Unfortunately for them, they were met with a pair of exploding shurikens which knocked them down, but fortunately, Starfire caught them both before they fell too far.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven chanted, pulling up a pair of large boulders and sandwiching the villain between them. However, just as she pulled them apart, he flew up and kicked her energy disk hard, throwing her back into the tower through one of the holes he'd made.

Gale came straight for the villain, spinning fast enough to conjure a whirlwind which slammed him into the tower's wall, creating a small crater where he hit. The vandal pulled himself off and the two adversaries flew at each other, fighting hand to hand in mid-air for a moment, until Gale caught a punch right in the nose, hard enough to break it. In retaliation, he kicked his adversary in the chest, pushing him back a little. Robin dove down from the rooftop at this time, ripping off the villain's backpack in passing, making him fall along with him.

The Titans' enemy pulled out a pair of shurikens as he fell, but Robin grabbed at his arms, then punched him in the face and kicked him away. He then shot out his grapple, which secured itself around one of the beams in the towers, and flung another towards their falling foe, effectively binding him and preventing him from going splat on the ground. "Our house…" Cyborg moaned as he saw the state it was in once they'd all landed. "Look what he did to our house."

"Dude, I need a vacation," Beast Boy pitched in.

"Who are you, and wadda you want?" Robin demanded. The tied up villain replied with a bunch of words clearly not from the English language that left them confused.

"Ummm… either that wasn't English, or I've got a concussion," Beast Boy said.

"Das Jabanese," Gale spoke up, his language skills currently impeded due to his broken nose.

"Your nose is broken," Raven noted. "Here, let me fix this for you. Now, this will probably hurt a little." A small bit of black telekinetic energy enveloped both Raven's hand and Gale's nose, which was set right in one quick movement, after which the young sorceress did a check to be certain that it was all good.

"… ow," Gale muttered.

"You say this guy spoke Japanese?" Robin asked, picking up the villain's dropped shuriken, which, oddly enough, had changed into a simple soft pink ball.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm not entirely fluent, but I can recognize it easily."

"I see… well, let's take him inside for now and we'll deal with this later."

* * *

The six Titans were now standing in the main room, or rather, what was formally known as such. The windows had been shattered, barely a few shards hanging on, the couch had been obliterated, the roof was cracked, the walls had holes, and the floor was a mess, littered with broken stuff. "What a mess," Raven stated.

"No kidding," Gale muttered.

"I really need a vacation," Beast Boy said.

"I can rebuild my car, I can repair my tower, but my sofa? I can't even look," Cyborg cried because of the very mangled and broken sofa.

"Here, here, Cyborg," Starfire reassured him. A pair of brooms was put in front of them by Raven, the both of them getting the message and grabbing them to start cleaning up.

"Yo, B," Gale said, conjuring a broom and dust pan out of air, floating in front of his teammate. "Place needs cleaning in case you didn't notice," he pointed out, himself using his powers with Raven's to fix the ceiling and walls.

The changeling grabbed the tools shoved in his face and got to work like the others. "Dude, seriously! When was the last time we took a vacation?"

"Never," Robin answered, working at one of the computer terminals. "We're heroes, Beast Boy. We don't take vacations." He then put the panel back in place, tightened the screws and had it running again. "Basic systems are back online. If anybody needs me, you know where to look."

And with that said, Robin walked out of the main room's ruins, down the hallway and into another room. Through the one way mirror, he could see the villain they had just caught, sitting with his wrists firmly held in clasps against the table. He listened to the villain talking, though he couldn't understand a word, letting him go on as the computers worked it out. A moment later, he pressed a button, a computerized voice stating '**Translation computer, on.**'

"You must let me go, I am Saico-Tek!" the villain could now be understood saying, as Robin walked into the room where he was stuck. "You are not supposed to stop me, only he may stop me. I belong in Tokyo!"

"Then why are you here?" Robin angrily demanded, slamming his hands on the table and staring Saico-Tek in the face. "You attacked my home, endangered my friends, and if you want to see tomorrow, you're going to tell me why!"

"I was sent… my mission… he made me do it, this tower, no choice!"

"Who sent you?"

"No! No! I am not supposed to speak, you are not supposed to catch me! He is worse than any criminal, angry, cruel… he will erase me!" Saico-Tek said frantically, standing up and struggling against his restraints.

"Who sent you to attack our Tower!" Robin demanded again, grabbing his shoulder tightly.

"Brushogun…" The fearful villain suddenly shrugged off Robin's grip and flipped up at an impossible angle, kicking the ceiling's sprinkler, dousing the whole room. When the Boy Wonder looked at him again, there was nothing there, only a puddle of water.

* * *

Later on, after he'd dried off, Robin was standing in the main room, looking outside through one of the holes Saico-Tek had made, while holding the strange pink ball in one hand. "This doesn't make any sense," he said, once he'd finished relating to his team what had happened. "People don't just… disappear."

"I don't know what to tell you, man," Cyborg spoke up. "The crime scanner's one of the only things working in this place, and it can't find him anywhere."

"I can't make psychic contact either," Raven informed them.

"I've sensed last bit of air in the tower, and there's nothing outside this room except Silkie," Gale added.

"Perhaps this Saico-Tek possesses the power of teleportation," Starfire suggested.

"If he could do that, he'd have disappeared the moment he was caught."

"Oh, oh! Maybe he just wasn't waterproof," Beast Boy said, earning a glare from Raven and Cyborg. "I know, not helping."

"So if the dude just vanished into thin air, how're we supposed to find him?" Cyborg asked.

"By tracking down his boss," Robin said. "This Brushogun ordered an attack on our headquarters. He nearly destroyed our home! He will be brought to justice." The team leader then turned to face his friends. "Pack your things, we're heading for Tokyo."

"Sweet!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "We're going on vacation!"

* * *

After gathering up all the things they wanted to bring on this trip, the Titans were standing at the foot of the tower with their luggage, the T-Ship parked just in front. At the moment, Cyborg was attempting to stuff Beast Boy's things in the T-Ship's trunk, and having difficulty due to the sheer amount. "What the hell are you bringing, B?" he asked, incredulously.

"Just the necessary," he answered. "What? It's not that much."

"I think your definition of necessary is clearly different from the rest of us," Raven said.

"So, how do you know Japanese?" Robin asked his winged friend.

"I don't know it perfectly," Gale specified. "But I have an aunt who lives in Karakura Town, a western Tokyo city, with her husband and three kids. My mom used to take me to visit for at least a week once a year during Christmastime."

"You have an aunt?" Starfire piped up, curious. "Please, do tell us about her."

"Actually, I have two aunts. First, there's my mom's older sister, Masaki Kurosaki. She's always sweet, soft and happy. Then there's my mom's twin sister, Shelliane Rhodes. She always liked to travel around a lot, and she's nice too, just with a lot more spunk. Haven't seen either of them since I left home."

"How come your aunt Masaki lives in Japan?" Robin inquired. "And why does she have a different last name?" Robin inquired.

"My grandfather was an American living in Japan for whatever reason. As far as I know, he met my grandmother, they stayed together for a while, then Masaki was born. She went away soon after, and he never saw her again, although she left my mother and Shelliane with him, because apparently she couldn't take care of them herself. My grandfather died when my mom was in her twenties, she and Shelliane came to Jump City and Masaki chose to stay in Japan. As for your first question, Masaki changed her name when she got married. Anything else you wanna know?"

"No, that's cool."

"Alright, that does it!" Cyborg exclaimed as some of Beast Boy's luggage burst out of the trunk. "There's no way we can fit all this junk into the T-Ship and have room for our stuff too!" In the end, they did manage to bring everything along. Raven, Gale and Robin only had one backpack, while Starfire brought a smaller portable suitcase and a shoulder bag and Cyborg had a single big suitcase with some replacement parts and a few other things. Cyborg and Starfire fit their suitcases in the trunk, on top of Beast Boy's stuff, with the changeling's remaining luggage being tied to the T-Ship's hull. Then they all piled into their respective seats and took off for Tokyo, and their mysterious foe, Brushogun.

* * *

The trip happened in relative silence, that is, for the beginning. Robin was focused on piloting the T-Ship, Starfire had her face pressed against the glass hatch of her pod, looking out at the scenery with fascination, Raven was quietly reading from a book, Gale and Cyborg each had a small booklet, studying how to speak Japanese, and Beast Boy was drinking from a jumbo sized cup of slush. Things remained mostly quiet, until an hour or so after they'd passed the Hawaii islands.

Robin, Cyborg, and to a certain extent, Starfire, began to argue about what direction they were supposed to go in order to get to Tokyo. For their part, Gale and Raven remained completely out of the argument. As for Beast Boy, the changeling was contorting and twisting in discomfort, suffering from a need to use the bathroom. They ended up stopping at a small, barely populated set of islands owned by the US, where they took a break for a bit, and Beast Boy was finally allowed to relieve himself. After taking some time to figure out a few things, they piled into the T-Ship and were off once again.

As they were continuing to fly along, due to boredom, Beast Boy pulled out a small digital camera and started taking random shots. Then he turned towards his teammates, taking a picture of Cyborg eating, Starfire watching dolphins, Robin studying a map, Gale further practicing Japanese and Raven sleeping. Feeling brave and incredibly stupid, he opened his hatch and changed into an octopus, reaching out towards the pale skinned Titan with one tentacle while another held his camera. "You're going to regret this," Gale warned, though Beast Boy paid no attention to this, proceeding to take a shot of himself poking Raven in the nose.

The young sorceress snapped awake, bursting with anger and annoyance upon realizing what had happened. A few violent and vicious seconds later, Beast Boy was the proud owner of a black eye, swelling bump on his head, and an assortment of bruises. Following this, the changeling remained quiet for the rest of the trip, not even saying a word or doing a single stupid thing, to his friends' relief.

* * *

Finally, the Titans were standing on the outskirts of Tokyo, countless lights illuminating the giant city. "Tokyo, we made it," Cyborg announced proudly as they looked out at the city. "Told you it was a left at Hawaii," he said to Robin.

"The city lights are like a million tiny fanorbla flies," Starfire commented.

"It may look nice, but there's something rotten down there, and were going to-"

"Woooo yeah!" Beast Boy exclaimed, jumping out from his pod, now wearing a short sleeve pink and yellow shirt over his uniform. "Hello Japan! So… When do we get to see the great wall?" Gale, Robin and Cyborg smacked their foreheads at the changeling's stupidity.

"Never," Raven answered. "It's in China."

"Ohhhh, but you know what is in Tokyo? The world famous number one greatest most awesome Japanese comic book company, Wakamono Shupa! We've just gotta take the tour! Now, pleaseeee?"

"We are not here on vacation," Robin reminded him sternly. "We're heroes, not tourists. Our mission is to locate Brushogun and bring him to justice. And since we're guests in this country, we need to be on our best behavior. So let's do our job, and try to stay out of trouble."

"Come on, how much trouble could we possibly get in?" Beast Boy asked as they walked towards the city itself.

* * *

Unknown to them, a mysterious figure was sitting in a dark lair, with a half dozen screens, on one of which he was watching their arrival with particular interest. "So, the Teen Titans have come to Tokyo," he muttered to himself. "Saico-Tek must have talked. Most unfortunate, don't you agree my friend?" in response, a weak voice gave out a soft cry that echoed a little throughout the darkened building. "But you needn't worry, I will soon give these heroes a good reason to leave." The strange figure then pressed a couple of buttons of a panel, at which the sounds of rumbling machinery popped up, soon followed by a low throated growl.

* * *

The Titans were now standing on the sidewalk of one of many busy streets, surrounded by enough people, buildings and lights to make them simply stare, though Gale was somewhat used to it. "Toky whoa!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"So… where to now?" Raven wondered.

"The roughest part of town is in the Shinjuku district," Robin said, reading from a guidebook. "We'll start our search there."

"Okay… so how do we get there?" Cyborg asked.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I can't read the signs."

"No problem," Beast Boy said. "We'll just ask for directions." He then walked over to a balding gray haired man reading a newspaper and tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. "Umm, hi. How do we get to Shinjuku?" The man spoke back in Japanese, at which Beast Boy nodded then said thanks and came back to him friends.

"You didn't understand a word he said, did you?" Gale spoke up.

"… Not one," the changeling replied, causing Cyborg's face to tick in annoyance.

"If I may," Starfire stepped in. "Perhaps I would be of assistance in this." She then walked over to a nearby young Japanese boy, grabbed him by the shirt and kissed him, causing him to widen his eyes. Beast Boy and Cyborg stared in surprise, Raven and Gale merely raised an eyebrow, and Robin's face showed surprise obvious enough to spot a mile away, along with disbelief and horror. She then let go and spoke to him in flawless Japanese, asking for directions to Shinjuku, to which, in a daze, he said a few words in reply and pointed behind him. Thanking him for this, she rejoined her friends. "It is this way."

"Umm, Starfire? Why did you just… kiss that guy?" Robin asked.

"Oh, the people of my planet are able to learn any language instantaneously through lip contact," she answered.

"So you speak Japanese now?" Starfire nodded at Cyborg's question. "That's great."

"Yeah… great," Robin muttered underneath his breath.

"Chill out, lover boy," Gale said as they were walking, so only Robin would hear. "I'm sure she hasn't forgotten all about you."

"Shut up," he shot back. "I thought you knew Japanese well enough so you'd be able to point us in the right direction."

"Yeah, but Starfire moved before I got to it. And besides, seeing your face was priceless." The Boy Wonder grumbled unhappily. As they were walking along, they were suddenly faced with a slew of people running away scared in the opposite direction. Gale then grabbed a man by the sleeve of his jacket as he passed by. "_Matte! Nani ga okite iru?_" (_Wait! What is happening?_)

"_Monsutā wa, denryoku-sen o kōgeki shite iru!_"

He then let go of the man's sleeve, allowing him to continue running away. "What'd he say?" Raven asked.

"A monster's attacking the power lines." Just as he finished translating, they could feel the ground beneath them shake as a giant Godzilla monster with a light green hide and yellow underbelly appeared. It stood as tall as some of the buildings, walked on two fat hind legs, and had a large tail and two big hands with claws. It ploughed its way through a band of power lines that snapped before it like strings.

"Titans, Go!" Robin called out, running towards it and throwing a few disks that exploded on the side of its head. It put up its arms in front of its face as a flurry of starbolts and black energy pounded against its hide. It lowered its arms to step forward, only to have Cyborg, flying with Beast Boy, and Gale, fire a combined sonic cannon shot and beam of wind that blew a wide hole straight in the middle of its torso. However, a second later, the hole filled up, going from blue, to purple, to white, and then yellow, with not even a scratch to show for it.

"Same power as Saico-Tek," Cyborg remarked as they regrouped.

"Because it works for Brushogun too," Robin stated. The giant monster roared loudly, then fired a blast of green energy from its eyes, blowing a hole in the ground where the Titans were standing a second ago. The Boy Wonder dived out of the way as a giant foot came down at him, then flipped up and started to run, cartwheeling and doing flips to avoid the monster's eye blasts. However, having such a long stride, it didn't take it long to catch up with Robin, raising its tail and attempting to flatten him. The monster looked around, saw that the Titans' Leader had run between its legs and went to chase after him.

After failing to stomp on him, it stopped for a moment when a car wrapped in black energy collided with the side of its face. It then turned in the direction the car had come from, from where Raven was floating in mid-air and using her powers to throw a few more cars. "Where's a gas guzzler when you need one?" the teenage sorceress complained to herself.

The Godzilla monster brought its foot down at her, only to step on some parked cars. She ducked and weaved around its hands, but it still managed to grab her. Fortunately for her, Beast Boy, in the form of an eagle, flew towards their enemy, changing into a gorilla mid-flight and hitting the monster's head with a double handed blow, hard enough to cause it to let go of Raven. As he was dropping down, he grabbed a lamp post, swung around it and landed safely on the ground. As the monster turned its attention towards him, he started to grow, changing into a T-Rex, but in the midst of this, he failed to notice that he was standing beneath an overpass, until he slammed his head into it, shrinking back down to his usual form.

The monster reared its head back, and when it brought it back down again, it spat a load of green, slimy liquid at Beast Boy, who was knocked on his back. As the Godzilla creature bent down, as if to sniff the green boy, it was hit in the side of the face with a shot from Cyborg's sonic cannon. "I hear baseball's big in Japan," he said, standing on the sidewalk. "Well get ready for a grand slam!" He then grabbed a large pole standing next to him, which, unknowingly to him, had been one of two holding up a large sign. And with half its support removed, it came crashing down on him.

Seeing the creature move towards his friend, Gale made his trademark transparent sword appear in his hand. He flew straight towards the monster, making a few cuts in its hide. However, even though this distracted the beast, the gashes closed up in little time. Gale planted his feet on the monster and kicked off, giving himself a bit of space. His weapon pulsed with power for a split second, until he swung it downward in a wide arc. A massive blade of air extended from the winged boy's sword, hitting its target with such force that the monster was actually knocked over.

Though the Titans' foe was shaken, it propped itself half up with its hands and tail, then ripped off a VERY large and heavy sign with ease, hurling it at the winged boy. Mustering his will power, Gale let go of his sword and thickened the air around the incoming missile enough to make it halt. Following this, the creature shot out a concentrated blast of energy from its eyes, catching Gale full force, sending him through a window and into a building.

Starfire flew at the giant monster as it stood to its full height, delivering an uppercut, followed by a few more punches, her Tamaranian strength hitting hard. She then grabbed it by one of the fin like ears, dragging it a ways back so that it slammed into a building. This turned out not to have phased it all that much, since it simply pushed itself off and came after Starfire, who flew back. However, not seeing behind her, she was caught in a bunch of power lines, trapped as the monster's hand reached in and grabbed her. She screamed as it pulled her towards its face, but was able to escape when Robin threw a disk that stuck onto the creature's head, giving it a jolt of electricity. "Hey, over here! Your mother was a salamander!" he called out, then ran down an alleyway, with the monster in pursuit.

While it was stomping away, Gale flew out of the window he'd been sent through, looking a little worse for wear, but otherwise fine. He landed next to Raven and Beast Boy, as the shape shifter was coming to his senses, sitting up and taking account of the gooey green stain on his shirt. "Aww! How am I supposed to pick up hot Japanese girls with a big green stain on my shirt?" he complained.

"Your skin in green, you have fangs, and your ears are pointed," Raven said, getting in his face and raising a finger for each point she made. "You're really worried about the shirt?"

"Hey, chicks dig the ears!" he protested as the two flew down the alleyway Robin had gone into, leaping to his feet and abandoning his shirt as he ran after them.

"What's wrong with green skin and pointy ears?" Gale asked the young sorceress, the two flying side by side.

She looked to her teammate, a look of embarrassment popping onto her face. "Nothing's wrong. I just… shut up."

Ahead of them, Robin was running like his life depended on it, which it pretty much did, the monster keeping up easily enough, even though its wide bulk forced it to brush against the buildings on each side. Looking back, he saw his pursuer's eyes blowing green, at which he sped down a side alley, avoiding a pair of eyebeams. The monster followed him into the even narrower space, bringing a giant foot down towards him. Not wanting to get crushed, he ran as fast as he could and shot out his grapple, which hooked onto a passenger train going by, pulling him away in time to save himself. However, just as he got a grip on the side of the train car, he noticed a passenger pointing to something outside, which turned out to be a giant tail that swatted part of the train off the railings and onto the street below.

Robin managed to use his grapple to land on the pavement safely, but just as he did so, the giant monster ripped off the railing from above the Boy Wonder, ripping it apart and casting it aside. Just as he stood there, face to face with the behemoth, a bunch of lights blinded the monster at the same time as a band of police cruisers, vans and helicopters came onto the scene. Robin looked behind him to see a man dressed in a brown trench coat and who had the look of a detective, or inspector, coming out of one of the cruisers. "Troopers, charge!" he ordered.

At his command, a horde of men dressed in identical dark and light blue suits poured from the vans. They all had light blue helmets with purple visors, and carried red automatic blasters. Making a semi-perimeter around the green giant, the troopers opened fire, red laser peppering its hide. The other titans came onto the scene as another group of troopers were being lowered from the helicopters, two men holding an arm out to block their way. While the first group continued firing, each man in the second placed a red bar on the ground two gray cylinders on it. Two cables extended from both ends, each connecting to the one on either side, so that it formed a full circle around the beast.

The commander then walked forward and pulled out a sword from his side, except that it was a rounded tip, which he slammed onto a large button on one of the cable connectors. This triggered the apparatus to shoot a bar of white energy from each gray cylinder, extending upward and curving until it formed a tall domed cage. "We have got to get one of those," Cyborg said, as the red pieces all moved closer together, forcing the beast down to its knees.

"Ahh, you are the Teen Titans," the chief said in English, sheathing his sword like tool. "Welcome to Japan. I am Commander Uehara Daizo of the Tokyo Troopers," he added, bowing formally to them, to which they all bowed deeply in return, Raven and Cyborg having to force Beast Boy, as he was apparently ignorant of customs. A round of introductions followed their meeting, where the commander briefly explained a few things to them as they went to the headquarters of the Tokyo Troopers. Once they arrived there, given that it was rather late at night, Daizo insisted that they allow themselves to be shown to suitable rooms where they could get some sleep.

* * *

The following morning, they met with the commander. "Tokyo is a unique city, my young friends," he spoke as they went up a moving platform. "… with its own unique dangers. Of course, I am sorry you had to learn this the hard way."

"We're used to danger," Robin assured him. "But we appreciate your help, commander."

"Commander?" Daizo laughed a little at the title. "No, no, you may call me Daizo. After all, we are friends. I will honor you with a tour of our headquarters, and our home. You see, I founded the Tokyo Troopers to keep our city safe. We are not too different from you Titans, except that we are all grown-ups." The platform stopped ascending and went straight forward down the railings, going through a pair of security doors.

"My operation is a triumph of Japanese culture, technology, and design," he said as they went by the barracks, housing a bunch of identically suited troopers, then into a training area where more of them were busy. "The living units are efficient, but comfortable. Hourly training sessions keeps my troopers in peak form." They kept moving along, going down a corridor and through another pair of security doors, coming to a stop at the end of the track, which was situated in a room with a bunch of troopers operating different computers and such. "My crime center has reduced crime in Tokyo by nearly 100%. Not bad, huh?" He then bade them to step forward to get a better look at things, which they obliged.

Beast Boy walked over to a console, where he saw a large red button in the middle. "Huh, wonder what this does?" He went to reach for it, only to have Raven smack his hand away and stare him down.

"Don't touch anything," she said in a serious tone.

"With your permission, Daizo, I'd like to use some of this equipment to complete our mission," Robin politely requested.

"Certainly my young friend," he replied. "And if I may inquire, what is your mission?"

"We're tracking down a criminal who calls himself Brushogun." The commander laughed loudly at this, apparently amused by Robin's words.

"Forgive me, but you are ignorant of our culture. Brushogun is an urban legend, a myth. I'm afraid you have come a long way for nothing. As you can see, my troopers have Tokyo's real criminals under control."

"But… Saico-Tek said-"

"I'm sorry, I don't know who that is," Daizo jumped in. "Someone is playing a trick on you, perhaps."

"Commander Uehara," a man in a wide gray suit and tie spoke up in Japanese, standing before a handful of reporters. "Tokyo thanks you for saving our city, once again. The commander walked up to the man, both of them bowing to each other.

"It is my honor to serve, Mr. Mayor," he replied.

"Come now, the people want their hero. And I want to give you another medal." The mayor handed him a small golden medal, which he accepted. "I welcome you all to our city," the mayor addressed the Titans in English. I hope you enjoy your stay."

"Thank you very much," Robin replied.

"Just remember, here you are tourists," Daizo reminded them. "Leave the law enforcement to us."

* * *

Half an hour later, the six Titans were standing on a rooftop, Robin leaning against the railing and looking out at the city. "So, this was a fairly impressive waste of time," Raven commented sarcastically.

"I don't understand," Robin said. "How could this whole thing be a wild goose chase? I feel like an idiot."

"No, please," Starfire spoke up. "Do not blame yourself for the wild chasing of the goose."

"I can't even find my way around in this town… much less catch a criminal."

"You've got Starfire to help you out for finding your way at least," Gale noted.

"Yeah…"

Silence reigned for a moment, until Beast boy jumped up excitedly. "Oooo, dudes! I totally know where we need to go!" Beast Boy then changed into a pterodactyl and picked up Cyborg, while Starfire carried Robin, and the other two Titans flew alone. Following their friend's lead, they eventually arrived at a tall skyscraper building. "Tadaaa!" he exclaimed when they landed.

"Wakamono Shupa?" Starfire wondered.

"The comic book place?" Raven added.

"I thought you were leading us to a clue about Brushogun," Robin said, an angry tick on his face.

"Helloooo? Daizo said he's not real, remember?" Beast Boy reminded him, walking towards the entrance. "And as long as we're here, we've gotta take the tour." He then walked right into the glass door.

"The sign says it is closed," Starfire spoke up, reading the sign hanging on the door.

"Not cool! This isn't fair!" he exclaimed/complained.

"Come on, let's just go home," Robin said, half dejectedly.

"Are you nuts?" Gale asked. "We can't waste a trip like this."

"Yeah!" Cyborg agreed. "We are in Tokyo man! We gotta look around, see the town."

"After all, that's what vacations are for," Beast Boy pitched in. With the exception of Beast Boy, they all headed out to go their own ways, Starfire dragging Robin along, and Gale with Raven.

* * *

Back in the dark place, the same strange figure was watching the Titans move about. "So, the Titans are no longer looking for me. But I will be watching their every move." He then pressed a few buttons, activating a printing press, a shadowed hand lying against the paper, from which strips of paint appeared. And a mysterious, inhumane looking figure arose from each of these.

* * *

For their part, Raven and Gale were walking along one of the city's streets. Both of them drew eyes towards them, with the winged boy getting a bit more attention, yet still a fair few people still just moved along. "So… anything you wanna do?" Gale spoke up.

"I don't know. Let's just walk and talk for now."

They remained silent for a moment, just walking along. "You have any family?" Gale asked, breaking the silence.

Raven's face twitched a little at this, but she remained composed for the most part. "Yeah, there's my mother. Her name's Arella. I was actually born in a dimension called Azarath. I left to come to earth some time ago, but she still lives there."

"What about your father?"

"He's… not a nice person. If you don't mind, I'd really rather not talk about him."

"That's okay, I don't mean to pry," he said reassuringly. "What languages do you speak anyway?"

"English, obviously. And I also know German, Latin, Romanian, Ancient Sumerian… and Sanskrit."

"Wow, you're pretty smart to speak that many different languages."

"Thanks," Raven muttered, her cheeks coloring a little because of her friend's compliment. "What about you?"

"Well, I also speak English, as I'm sure you realized. And apart from that, there's Latin, Spanish, French, and at this point I've pretty well gotten the hang of Japanese. Not quite as many as you know."

"That's still five languages," Raven said, sounding impressed. "How'd you learn?"

"Latin, I've always just known it. Spanish and French are both Latin tongues, so I picked up on those pretty easy. As for Japanese, that came with study, and my cousins helped me learn a fair bit. On another topic, you said you sang, so why don't you do it more often?"

"Well… I mostly just do it when I'm alone."

"I'd love to hear you sing sometime. When you try, you really do have a beautiful voice, much like your pretty face."

'Does he really think I'm… pretty?' Raven thought to herself, blushing furiously.

'Did I just tell Raven she had a beautiful voice and a pretty face?' Gale spoke in his mind, his cheeks reflecting exactly how embarrassed he felt. 'Okay, yes, I did say that. I just told my friend with a pretty face, silky hair and nice legs that- No! Bad thoughts! Don't think like that!'

"Soooo… you really think I'd sing well then?" Raven asked, still blushing.

"Oh, ummm… yes, of course I think that! And I really would like to hear you sing, if you'd do me the honor."

"It's just that… I kind of get embarrassed at the idea of singing for other people. But I might be able to manage if you're the only one. Hey, how about this? We have a flying contest, and if you win, I'll sing, but just for you and nobody else." Raven said, surprising herself with her own idea.

"That's alright by me," he replied. "And if you win, then I'll be your personal translator for the whole day, and I'll buy you lunch after we're done flying. So… first one that gets to the T-Ship and back here?"

"You've got it." The two of them suddenly flew off into their air, racing against one another, unaware of the two entities lurking in the shadows and while watching them.

* * *

His friends having left, Beast Boy was sitting on the steps in front of the comic book building, moping with a comic in his hands. "This was the only place in Japan I wanted to see. It's like paradise for comic book geeks… Did I just call myself a geek? Oh well…" he then put up the comic book he had in his hands, flipping through the pages, until a shadow came across. Noticing this, he looked over the comic book, and his eyes bugged out at the sight of a cute, young school girl, dressed in a short shirt and skirt outfit.

She giggled a bit at seeing the green boy staring so openly. "Otaku?" she asked.

"Otaku? I think that means I'm cute," Beast boy said to himself, hearts flashing before his eyes. The girl then turned around and ran off, the changeling mindlessly following her.

* * *

Over with Cyborg, the half metal teenager was walking through an alleyway with many different shops on either side. He had his attention split between a guide book in his hands, and the shops, looking for one in particular. Finally, after walking along for some time, he came upon a small restaurant. "There it is!" he exclaimed. "The only Japanese I need to know. All you can eat!" He then walked into the restaurant in question and sat down at a table, where a young waiter/chef came over, presumably asking what he wanted. "**_Tabehoudai_****_!_****" he said. (A****_ll you can eat!_****)**

* * *

In the end, Gale and Raven ended up finishing their aerial race in a draw, both of them a little worn out from trying so hard to win. "So… guess neither of us won," Raven said.

"Yeah… that's true," Gale agreed. "Does it mean you aren't going to sing?"

"Well… I… okay, fine, I'll sing, just for you. But you still have to be my translator for the day and buy me lunch."

"Works for me," Gale said happily, leading the way into a sushi shop.

* * *

For their part, Robin and Starfire had quite a day. They had a lunch on the go while watching sumo wrestling on one of the giant TV screens outside, after which Starfire dragged her friend away so that they could go rowing along a peaceful river, beautiful cherry blossom trees on either side. They spent some time in a park, enjoying the view, and then flew back into the city proper, wandering around while looking at different buildings and such. After a while, they went into an arcade, where Robin stood off to the side while Starfire jumped to a game where she wore a helmet while standing on a dance pad and playing a mock guitar.

Lights flashed across the screen as the Tamaranian girl hit every note on the guitar and caught every step on the dance pad. Her impeccable scoring soon caught the attention of nearly every guy in the room, causing Robin a certain annoyance when they all swarmed over to watch. When it was done, a smiling face appeared on the screen, announcing a perfect score, at which the onlookers cheered. Now finished, Starfire took off the gaming implements and smiled brightly, at which Robin couldn't help but smile at seeing his friend's boundless joy.

Later in the day, just as the sun was beginning to set, casting a bit of a red glow, the Boy Wonder and Tamaranian girl were sitting atop the roof of one of the many skyscraper buildings in the city. "Brushogun's a myth, so why do I feel like he's still out there?" Robin wondered.

"Uh, Robin?" Starfire spoke up. "About that boy earlier, and the… lip contact…"

"Yeah… is that why you kissed me when we first met? To learn English?"

"Yes. On Tamaran, this signifies merely the passing of knowledge. But on your world, it means… more. Or so I have heard." Both of them blushed a little in embarrassment.

"Ohh… more… right. I mean, yes, lip contact does means… I've heard that too." They both laughed nervously a little, then suddenly moved apart, freshening themselves up, before leaning close together, more so than previously. "Hi…"

"Greetings…"

"Starfire…"

"Yes Robin?"

"You know you're my… best friend, right?"

"And you are mine," Starfire said in return, slowly edging her hand towards Robin's, until they were touching.

"I never want anything to get in the way of that," Robin added, grabbing her hand and leaning even closer.

"Nothing ever could."

"I know…"

"Then we have nothing to fear." Their faces came ever closer, their lips about to touch, until Robin suddenly came to a realization.

"Fear! Saico-Tek was afraid of someone, terrified!" he exclaimed, standing up determinedly, while Starfire's head dropped a little in disappointment. "And whoever they are, they're here in Tokyo. Everyone may think Brushogun is a myth, but to Saico-Tek, he's real."

"But…" Starfire protested, standing up next to her friend. "Even if he is real, the commander Daizo and his troopers can surely handle this."

"If they can handle it, then what're we doing here?"

"I… believed we were having… the fun."

"There's nothing fun about looking like a bunch of stupid kids. We're heroes, Starfire. We don't take vacations, we don't make mistakes, and we don't have time for… for this."

"Must we always be heroes?" she asked, gently holding his arm. "Are we capable of nothing else? Can we not, for a moment, be something… more?"

"There is nothing more," he shot back in a deadpan tone, removing her hands from his arm. "A hero is what I am. And if you don't like it…"

"Robin… I like it more than you'll ever know." Starfire then flew away, tears coming to her eyes because of her friend's words.

* * *

Later on, as night was coming in, Cyborg was still sitting in the little restaurant, continuing to stuff his face with lots and lots of food, without much pause. Finally, after a while of this, the owner, a small man with a big nose, dressed in white and black with a red headband, snatched up all the food currently on Cyborg's table. "You… you… you go now!" he spoke in English. "You eat too much you. You will put me out of business!"

"But the sign says all you can eat," the half metal teenager pointed out. "And I can eat more!"

"Oh, really?" he said, dashing behind the counter, picking up a pair of knives and chopping away at something unseen. "You can eat more? Can you eat… octopus?" He then held out a plate filled with pieces of octopus for him to eat. The other diners present in the restaurant quieted down instantly, turning their attention towards him

"Yes. I. Can!" He then grabbed the plate, set in down on the table and picked up his chopsticks. With a flurry of quick movements, he plucked the food from his plate and stuffed in his mouth in little time. "What's next?" he asked with a grin, as the onlookers 'oooooed' and an angry tick appearing on the restaurant owner's face.

* * *

"Hey, wait up!" Beast Boy called out as he ran down a mostly empty street. He had been chasing the same school girl as had appeared while he was moping in front of the comic book company. "I'm otaku, remember?" he added, stopping for a moment to catch his breath. The girl stopped and turned around to look at him, giving him a playful wink, before walking through a pair of doors, giggling while motioning for him to follow.

Mindlessly as usual, Beast Boy stood straight again and walked in through the same doors as the girl had just gone through, coming into a wide, darkened room. "Where'd she go?" he wondered.

A light suddenly came on, illuminating the place. The green boy then took into account that he was standing on a stage, and that there were only girls sitting at the tables, cheering him on. A confused look popped onto his face as a woman handed him a cordless microphone, and suddenly it clicked. "Karaoke!" An upbeat song then started to play with words coming up on a screen next to him. "Wait! It's all Japanese…. Ah ha! There it is, English!" he said as he managed to change them to English. He then proceeded to sing along, with all the girls cheering wildly as he occasionally transformed into an animal. "Good night Tokyo!" he cried out once he was done, at which a bunch of girls rushed the stage, swarming all over him. "I love this town."

* * *

After lunch, Raven and Gale had wandered around for some time. They had gone to a few shops and stands, Gale telling the people managing them that they were looking for any reading material. However, the only place they came across that sold anything they were able to read, was a little stand, where the owner sold them a piece of gum with the label 'Super Twinkle 'Donkey Gum'. By the time evening rolled around proper, they had come to a part of town that looked more like ancient Japan, with the way the buildings were made. It was very quiet and no people were moving about, at least, in the immediate vicinity. The two Titans landed softly on one of the rooftops and sat down, simply looking at the scenery for a moment.

"So… if you don't mind, I'll just go ahead and sing for you now, as I promised," Raven said. Gale nodded at this, waiting and listening. The female Titan cleared her throat before she began, singing in a melodious voice that most people wouldn't expect to hear from her.

_I've heard there was a secret chord_  
_That David played, and it pleased the Lord_  
_But you don't really care for music, do you?_  
_It goes like this_  
_The fourth, the fifth_  
_The minor fall, the major lift_  
_The baffled king composing Hallelujah_

_Hallelujah, Hallelujah_  
_Hallelujah, Hallelujah_

_Your faith was strong but you needed proof_  
_You saw her bathing on the roof_  
_Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you_  
_She tied you to a kitchen chair_  
_She broke your throne, and she cut your hair_  
_And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah_

_Hallelujah, Hallelujah_  
_Hallelujah, Hallelujah_

Raven continued to sing until the song's end, the words flowing in a very graceful manner. When she was done, she looked to her friend, who had his undivided attention focused on her. "Raven… that was… you really do have a beautiful voice," he said, a warm smile appearing on his face.

"Thank you," she muttered, smiling in return. Instead of being embarrassed, as she usually might, she felt a warm feeling inside and her heart beating a little faster. Gale then plucked out a perfect looking feather from his left wing and placed it in Raven's hair, waving aside her protests by pointing out that one less would make no difference to him. The two of them sat down in silence for a while longer, simply enjoying each other's company. "I still can't believe that the only thing to read in this entire city is gum."

"What about that place over there?" Gale suggested, pointing to a small shop with curtain doors. "We haven't checked it out yet."

"Might as well." They both flew down onto the street and landed in front of the shop in question. "Hello?" Raven called out, pulling the curtains apart. "Is anyone there?" They waited for a moment, during which no one answered. "This is probably a bad idea." But despite this, they walked in regardless.

* * *

Back in the darkened lair, the same mysterious figure was monitoring the Titans' movements on the screens before him. At the present moment, he was focussed on the Boy Wonder himself. Robin was currently sitting on the lower flat part of a large neon letter planted on one of the many rooftops, examining the pink orb he'd picked up from Saico-Tek. "The child continues to investigate," he said, annoyed by this development. "Yes… he is persistent. But Saico-Tek will take him off the case… permanently."

* * *

"This isn't much," Robin muttered to himself as he studied the pink orb from his perch. "But it's the only clue I've got. No screws, no seams… what's this thing made of?" Suddenly, the orb was flung out of his hand by another object colliding with it. Seeing a shuriken identical to those of Saico-Tek lying a few feet away, Robin immediately jumped away, seconds before it exploded. As he swung around on his grappling hook, he happened to see Saico-Tek, who was standing on a ledge above. "Saico Tek!"

The villain, whose suit was now mostly pink, jumped started running away, Robin in hot pursuit. The Boy Wonder ran across a platform and jumped up onto the ledge, throwing a birdarang which planted itself in Saico-Tek's backpack just as he was starting to fly away, bringing him back down with a crash. Robin came down on him before he had the chance to get up, holding his arms behind his back. "I want answers! Real ones," he demanded.

In response, the Japanese bad guy kicked the Titan leader off him, then flipped to his feet. Both of them charged at one another, engaging in a fierce melee brawl, swinging with hands, feet, elbows and any other body part. At one point, Robin threw a hard punch, to which Saico-Tek avoided by dodging to the side, then snatching his cape. He pulled back and swung his foot for Robin's chest, only to have it caught, but jumped up and connected with his other to the Boy Wonder's face, leaving a pink mark.

He started to run away again, Robin pursuing him, until he slipped through the blockade of metal supports holding up a series of neon signs. Robin grunted in anger and annoyance at this, but simply ran along the ledge at the side, keeping track of his target flipping and passing through the supports with all the grace and agility of a supreme gymnast. After a moment, he came to an opening, where the villain came out, only to be flung away when Robin tackled him onto a flat rooftop. They rolled for a second, during which Robin managed to handcuff him with his arms behind his back, then separated and flipped away. But, to his surprise, the villain simply got to his feet, then impossibly twisted his arms over his head and brought them in front of him, slipping his hands out of the restraints. "What are you?" Robin wondered.

Despite this latest development, the Boy Wonder still charged his opponent, who reached behind his back and pulled out two pink balls, which extended into a pair of Sai, three pronged daggers. Saico-Tek jumped as Robin attempted a sliding kick, slicing off the 'R' emblem on Robin's chest. The Titans' leader pulled out a pair of birdarangs from his belt as he got up, clashing with Saico-Tek knives. They fought with their weapons for a short moment, the pink villain knocking one birdarang out of Robin's hand. The Boy Wonder swung with his remaining weapon in quick succession, managing to keep his opponent busy defending himself, though he still lost his other birdarang when it broke against one of Saico-Tek's knives.

But even unarmed, Robin was hardly helpless, proven as he kept dodging or countering the villain's strikes with only his hands and feet. At one point, he managed to grab both of Saico-Tek's hands and let himself fall down into a roll, bringing the villain down and flipping him into the air. As he charged at him again, Saico-Tek swung his daggers quickly, not drawing blood, but still slicing into Robin's glove, shirt, and making a small cut in his mask, which contrived to stay in place. Putting away his Sai, the villain back-flipped away from Robin, who hurled a fistful of small explosive globes at him, which blew up against the rooftop, catapulting him into the air. He landed with a thud, getting up in a flash and continuing to run away.

However, Robin then threw a pair of explosive disks, which detonated against a neon sign in front of Saico-Tek, blowing him back off his feet. Just as this happened, Robin leaped forward, spearing him in the back, both of them slamming into the large sign, which fell over, falling onto the street below. Using his grapple to land safely, Robin came down on the prone villain with a fury, pounding him with his fists. He then raised his hands and struck with a double-handed blow, shattering the circular piece on Saico-Tek's chest, at which he stopped moving completely.

Breathing a little hard from the energy expended, Robin stood up and took notice of all the people staring at him, many of whom had looks of surprise, shock, or other such stunned expressions. He then looked at his hands, which were coated with in a pink substance which eerily resembled blood. "No…" he said, not wanting to believe what he'd just done. A horde of Tokyo Troopers suddenly came onto the scene, surrounding the Titans' leader, pointing their weapons at him.

"I am sorry, my young friend," Daizo said, standing amidst his troopers. "But you leave me no choice. I must place you under arrest. Robin merely stood still as a pair of troopers placed a set of handcuffs around his wrists and led him away, wondering how things could possibly have turned out like this.

* * *

So... I hope you all liked it, and if you'd be kind enough, please leave a review, even if it's just a few words.

I should get around to posting the next chapter in... three weeks, maybe (random guess).

**Robin: I get arrested! What's wrong with you dude?**

**Me: Nothing, that's part of the movie, not my fault, I'm just following along for that part.**

**Starfire: Please, tell me, will Robin be alright?**

**Me: Of course, your little Robbie poo will be fine.**

***Robin has an angry tick on his face at the nickname.***

**Raven: Will anything more happen between me and Gale?**

**Me: Yeah, don't worry, I've got some hot stuff stored up for you two.**

**Gale: Hot stuff? Like what?**

**Me: I'm not saying. You just have to wait and see.**

**Cyborg: I'm hungry!**

**Me: Then go hassle that restaurant owner. But be careful, he may get pissed off.**

**Beast Boy: Am I going to-**

**Me: That's enough, all of you! No more questions, comments or anything else for this after-chapter. I'm done here.**

***I pull out a remote control and press a button, opening up a trap door that I fall through and out of sight. Beast Boy whimpers because he didn't get to ask his question.***


	21. Trouble in Tokyo  Part 2

**Disclaimer: **For the sake of having to say it, I do NOT own the Teen Titans. Duh!

there is an appearance by some bleach characters at the end of this chapter (although minor).

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Trouble in Tokyo – Part 2**

In Tokyo proper, Robin was in the middle of a brightly lit cell. As he was sitting there, looking at his pink stained gloves while contemplating what had happened, someone came into the room, sitting in a chair on the other side of the bars. "They just don't make heroes like they used to," Daizo said with a bit of a chuckle as he read from a manga. "Wouldn't you agree, my friend?"

"Please… I didn't mean to… he had a power, he could regenerate. And this…" he showed the pink stuff on his gloves. "It isn't blood. He wasn't human."

"Neither are most of your friends," Daizo shot back. "Whatever this Saico-Tek was, he used to be alive. And now…"

"I couldn't have," the Boy Wonder protested. "I would never… this isn't happening. This can't be real. It has to be some sort sick joke, or a setup."

"Oh really? And who precisely would wish to frame you?"

"The same person we came here looking for. Brushogun."

Daizo stood up and walked closer to Robin's cell. "Brushogun does not exist," he said firmly. "Tokyo does not tolerate vigilantes. And you, my friend, are in very deep trouble." He then tossed the manga to Robin and walked out of the room.

* * *

Back at the little shop where Raven and Gale had gone into, the two Titans were browsing through the selections of books. "I was just thinking…" Gale spoke up. "That thing Beast Boy said, about Saico-Tek not being waterproof, maybe it wasn't as stupid as it sounded."

"What makes you think so?" Raven asked.

"Well, for one thing, he grew back an entire arm after Cyborg blew it off," the winged boy pointed out. "And when we were bringing him in, I noticed that he wasn't breathing."

"Are you sure about that?"

"I even used my powers to check it out, and there wasn't a single breath of air inside him. It's like he wasn't even really alive, as if he was a robot, or some creation of magic. Strange…"

"No kidding…" Raven muttered. "And speaking of strange, didn't it seem weird how Daizo reacted when Robin mentioned Saico-Tek? He might know something, seeing how quick he was to dismiss it." Gale nodded in agreement at this. Raven picked up a book and started looking through it while her friend browsed through a shelf, but then she turned around in surprise when someone put a hand on her shoulder and spoke up to get her attention. As it turned out, the person was a short old man with a bushy moustache and eyebrows who wore glasses and was standing on a desk. He was dressed in a gray kimono shirt and pants, with a dark vest and a pair of wooden sandals.

"Welcome to my shop young lady and sir," he greeted them in perfect English. "Looking for something… in particular?"

Gale smiled in amusement at Raven, who had surrounded her hands with black energy and had a startled expression on her face. "Better be careful," he whispered to her. "He looks pretty vicious."

"Shut up," she shot back at her friend, blushing a little in embarrassment as she let go of her powers. "We're looking for a book about Brushogun," she spoke to the old man. "But there's nothing in fiction or mythology."

"Well of course not." The elderly man then stepped off his desk and walked further back into his shop, the two Titans following when he bade them to do so. He came to a stack of books, and after a short moment of rummaging through it, he picked up a red and white book that showed a red armored warlord on the cover. "Although few people today believe it, Brushogun was no myth. Here, take this," he added, giving them the book.

"_Arigatō, Honya-san_," (_Thank you, bookseller_) Gale said politely, he and Raven giving a short bow before they walked out of the small shop.

* * *

In the same restaurant that he'd first entered, Cyborg was sitting at his table, awaiting the next dish. All other customers had long since cleared out, leaving him alone with the little chef and his aides. "Bring it on! I can chow down anything you can make!" Cyborg boasted.

"Raw eggs? Devil fish?" the chef spoke up as each plate was put in front of his customer. In response, the cybernetic teen picked up the plates and scarfed down the somewhat questionable substances in a flash. "Pickled sea cucumbers? Chicken liver? Cow Eyes?" Almost steaming at the ears because of Cyborg eating all the food before him, the chef then picked up a small, beaten up old boot full of green substance. "Old shoe full of wasabi!" he almost screamed, throwing it at Cyborg, who caught it in his mouth and gulped it down.

"What's for dessert?" he asked with a grin. At this, the chef snapped, picking up a large knife and fork, and then jumped at Cyborg, screaming and followed by his aides. Suddenly deciding that leaving was a good idea, Cyborg quickly jumped to his feet and dashed outside, getting his rear end scorched when one of his pursuers fired off a small flamethrower at him. In his haste, he failed to notice the green gorilla running in the opposite direction, until they ran into each other and fell to the ground, the primate turning back into Beast Boy.

"Who's chasing you?" they both asked at the same time.

"Chefs!" "Girls!"

Cyborg then noticed a horde of screaming teenage girls who were running towards them from the same direction the shape-shifter had come, while the angry chefs were not far off. Seeing their pursuers coming at them like this, the two boys sprung up and ran down a side-alley as fast as they could.

* * *

Over in a different part of Tokyo, Starfire was standing in front of a pink store window. Behind it, was a little red platform, upon which was a dark blue monkey like electronic figure, and another one on the opposite side, except light blue and with a pink bow on its head. Sadness crossed her face as she watched the two figures waddled closer until they were holding each other with their lips touching. A little black haired schoolgirl walked over to the Tamaranian, looking up at her. "Are you sad about something?" she asked.

"No thank you, I am sad about nothing," Starfire replied, looking at the little girl with a fake smile. "And I do not have the boy troubles."

"Okay," she said simply.

"Ohhh… I am not even certain I have a boy with whom to have the troubles," Starfire confessed to the little girl, who looked up at her, listening closely. "Since I have met him, I have had… the feelings. I have waited with much patience, hoping that someday…" The young Japanese girl then grabbed the Tamaranian's hand, walking down the street with her. "Perhaps I was foolish to hope. Perhaps we are just heroes, and nothing more."

"Grandmother says that hoping for love is never foolish," the girl piped up, smiling brightly.

"You are right," Starfire said, cheering up already. "We can be more than just heroes. I feel this, and he does also, even if he fears to admit it. And I shall not let him go without a fight. I thank you very much for this talk, you are most insightful." Starfire stopped to gently ruffle the girl's hair. "I must go find-" The female Titan gasped as she caught sight of a giant TV screen that displayed a photo of Robin after being arrested. "Robin?"

The screen then switched over to show the mayor of Tokyo, who was speaking to the press. "… was apprehended at the scene by the Tokyo Troopers, and imprisoned on charges of manslaughter. His associates, the Teen Titans, are hereby ordered to turn themselves in, or leave Tokyo at once."

Though she was more than a little shocked by this piece of news, Starfire did not stay still. She went straight into the air, and as she was flying, she pulled out her communicator and called her friends. "Titans, emergency!" she said with desperation. "Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, Gale, please answer!"

"Starfire," Raven spoke up. "What's wrong?"

"Robin has been… arrested, for a terrible crime."

"Girl, are you crazy?" Cyborg asked. "Robin would never commit a... whoa!" The robotic teen interrupted himself upon seeing the same picture Starfire had seen.

"And he was telling us to stay out of trouble," Beast Boy remembered.

"Do we know where he is?" Raven asked.

"No," Starfire answered. "I have tried to contact him, but he does not respond."

"What should we do?" Gale inquired. "Troopers might come after the rest of us now."

"I'll transmit coordinates for us to rendezvous at so we can regroup and figure this out," Cyborg told the rest of them.

"Hurry, please. We need to help Robin." Starfire then put away her communicator and started to fly a little faster. However, a dark and light blue boy that looked like a strange anime character flew towards her from behind, unknown to her until he shot out a ball of bluish white energy that hit her in the back. "_Konichiwa_!" he, or it, cried out, unleashing a blast of energy at the Tamaranian.

* * *

After having received the message from their friend, Raven and Gale took to the air with the intention of going to their meeting point. They were flying over a cemetery at the moment, silence hanging in the air, except for a bunch of crickets. Something passing behind prompted them to stop and look around for the source of the disturbance. "I know I just heard something unusual," Gale said with a frown, holding his transparent sword in one hand while Raven surrounded hers in black energy.

"Come on, let's go," Raven spoke up after a few seconds of not seeing anything. The two of them then continued flying towards their destination, until Gale caught the sound of something coming straight towards them. He suddenly turned around and brought his sword up, a clang resounding as he blocked a scythe aimed at him. The weapon was held in a pair of skeletal hands, which belonged to a figure that was covered in a black cloak and looked like the grim reaper, floating in mid-air. At the same time as this happened, another figure came at Raven, this one black, with no arms or legs and with a gray mask like face, prompting the young sorceress to take evasive manoeuvres.

* * *

In the meantime, Cyborg and Beast Boy were running along a small street, fortunately not being chased by angry chefs or love crazed girls. "Starfire, Raven, Gale…" he spoke into the communicator in his arm as they ran towards their meeting spot. Then, out of the blue, a pincer claw grabbed him by the waist and picked him up. What turned out to have grabbed him was an anime like character with a body shaped like a giant yellow and black ball, with no legs, two serpentine arms and a head without a neck. The yellow creature then opened its mouth wide and dropped Cyborg in whole. However, there was the sound of pounding from the inside, followed by the cybernetic teenager forcing the thing's mouth open and making his way out.

"Dude!" Beast Boy cried out, running towards his friend, but stopping when he saw the same girl he'd been chasing earlier who was just standing off at the side. "Hot girl, don't go away!" he said to her. "I just gotta help my friend then I'll be back to take you on the best date of your life." However, just as he finished saying this, the object of his desire spun around, turning into a pink cat-girl complete with fur, a tail, claws, paws and cat ears. She then promptly lashed out with a kick that threw him off his feet and sent him crashing into a vending machine hard enough to dent it badly.

"Meeeeow."

"On second thought… maybe we should just be friends," Beast Boy suggested, at which she lunged at him.

* * *

Back with Robin, the Titans' leader had been sitting in his cell until a pair of guards wordlessly pulled him out, putting a pair of handcuffs around his hands and escorting him to an armored car. There he stepped into the back without protest, sitting down as the doors came firmly shut, but not before he caught a glimpse of Daizo's face, which showed only contempt at the moment. He sat quietly as the truck moved out and onto the road. At some point, a small piece of paper drifted in through the slit in the door where light was coming through from the roadside lamps. It floated down to sit at his feet and he looked at it to see one word written in pink. "Brushogun…"

Oddly enough, the ink flew off the piece of paper and came together in mid-air, taking the shape of a familiar looking pink ball, which then formed into a beeping shuriken. Taking this into account in a snap, Robin dived away from the device, which exploded a second later, lifting the armored car into the air and sending it tumbling down the road. When it was finished its impromptu ride, Robin stepped out, dragging with him the beaten up trooper who'd been driving the vehicle. He set him down at a distance from the truck and laid his cloak on top of him, after which the armored car exploded in an impressive display. "Brushogun is real," he said to himself. "And I have to find him." He then walked down an alleyway, away from the burning truck.

Not too long afterwards, a bunch of troopers showed up, going quick at work to put out the fire. The commander stepped out of a police car, walking over to the injured trooper who was just sitting up, and picked up Robin's tattered cape. "Troopers!" he spoke up. "There is a criminal on the loose in our city! Bring him in, or bring him down!"

* * *

Once again with Cyborg and Beast Boy, the two titans were busy fighting the yellow creature and pink cat-girl. The yellow thing grabbed Cyborg with one of its pincers and brought him towards him mouth, attempting to bite him, although he planted his hands and feet on its face to prevent that from happening. Struggling for a split second, he kicked off, sending it crashing into the ground below. He ran forward to meet its charge, the thing's hands changing into a steak knife and cleaver. "Think you can make a meal outta me?" he asked, dancing around its blows and blocking those that came too close. "You don't have the guts." Cyborg then managed to jump onto its body and kicked it the face, shifting his right arm into his sonic cannon. However, he was forced to eat his words when the creature bounced back with surprising speed, biting off the end of his cannon arm. "Okay… maybe you do have the guts," he said worriedly. Despite this, he continued to fight with the creature, who managed to grab and put him in his mouth again. "Yo B!" he called out to his friend as he struggled against the yellow thing. "I could use a hand here!"

Unfortunately for him, Beast Boy was a little too busy with his own battle to take the time to help his friend. Shifting into a grizzly, he charged at the cat-girl, who merely smirked as she danced around his massive paws for a few seconds, then jumped up and punched him right in the nose. Falling back because of this, he growled in annoyance and then grew in size, becoming a T-Rex. The ground shook as he lumbered towards his opponent, who leapt onto the building behind him, climbed up a bit and then jumped off, coming down at him with a falling kick right on his head, causing his massive form to tumble.

"You're really annoying!" he complained, shifting to a rhinoceros and charging at her again, though she simply jumped onto his back and flipped off with grace. She then started to speak to him in Japanese, though he could not understand a single word, jumping onto his back when he shifted into a pterodactyl and flying upward. The cat-girl suddenly put her hands over his eyes, then jumped off before he crashed into the side of a building, tumbling down onto the ground below. "Come on! How am I supposed to think of a decent comeback when I don't even know what you're saying?" In response, the cat-girl started to climb down the wall until she reached Beast Boy, planting a kiss on his cheek. He simply stood there dumbly as she dropped down, speaking a few words, of which he could still understand nothing. She then giggled a bit, then lashed out at him with a kick that had him crashing into the ground a distance away.

Having just freed himself from the yellow thing's grip for the immediate moment, Cyborg caught a glimpse of his friend getting his butt handed to him. He jumped to the side as an arm with a giant fork at the end stabbed at him, then stepped on it hard. The robotic teen followed up by grabbing a hold of the creature's arm and managed to throw it at Beast Boy's attacker, who was caught off guard, resulting in both of them being knocked into a wall. Seizing the chance, Cyborg ran to his friend and pulled him up, the both of them escaping before their enemies could get up again.

* * *

At Starfire's end, the Tamaranian girl was engaged in a full-fledged aerial fight with the little flying blue boy. She ducked and weaved in mid-air, avoiding a salve of energy pellets shot at her from a distance, then retaliated with a barrage of starbolts when her opponent came close, though he rolled over and was unharmed. The blue boy pulled out a small rocket from his mouth and fired it off at Starfire who was attempting to put some distance between them. As it came close to her, she turned around mid-flight and blasted it with her eyebeams, though the shockwave of the explosion caused her to tumble in the air for a moment before she regained her balance and continued flying away. Then, with a series of aerial moves, and by going around a building and then flying back, Starfire managed to get behind her pursuer, blasting off a series of starbolts after him, one of them just clipping him in the side, propelling him into a neon sign.

However, the blue boy then kicked off and they flew straight towards each other, fists covered in energy, a small explosion blowing them away when they collided. Not wanting to waste time, the Tamaranian girl flew away immediately, the blue boy in hot pursuit. "Go away now please," she said as he continued hounding her with pellets of energy. "You are a mean little boy and I have no time for your games. I must find-" Starfire was caught by surprise when she saw the little blue boy suddenly flying at her head on.

"_Hanarete bakudan_!" (_Bombs away_!) the blue boy yelled. He then opened his mouth WIDE, and out came a large rocket, aimed directly at the Tamaranian girl, exploding in a rather impressive display, kicking up a vast cloud of smoke. Starfire watched from an alleyway that she had dived down into, sighing in relief as the blue boy flew away when the she was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Over in the graveyard, Raven and Gale were stuck fighting the strange masked ghost and grim reaper figure respectively. The winged titan blocked a swing from the reaper's scythe aimed at his left, ducking low when his opponent brought about the butt end towards his head. He then swung his sword in an upward arc, stopping the falling scythe. The grim reaper figure pushed its weapon against Gale's with surprising strength, though he still managed to hold it at bay. Keeping their weapons locked, Gale commanded the air below the grim reaper to explode, blasting him upward. He stood still as the reaper came down at him, and then used his powers to push himself out of the way, the scythe getting stuck in the ground where he'd been standing a second ago.

Flying a short distance up, Gale held his sword in both hands and swung it down, sending a blade of air straight at his enemy. A small cloud of dust kicked up because of this, but before Gale could blow it away, he was forced to move to avoid the twirling scythe that was thrown at him. The grim reaper was still standing, his hood having been knocked off, revealing a skeletal head that had taken a beating. The winged titan drew back his sword to attack his now unarmed opponent, but interrupted himself when he sensed something behind him. He rolled over in mid-air, just barely avoiding the scythe that was returning to its owner, though it still gave him a cut in the right shoulder. "Guess I shouldn't have held back," he muttered, the two of them resuming their fight.

And in the meantime, Raven was still locked in battle with her own opponent. With the book tucked under one arm, she raised her free hand and thrust it forward, sending a bunch of obsidian covered rubble at her enemy who flew around it, though she managed to catch it in a black claw. However, a pair of shadowy claws extended from the ghost's body, grazing her cloak when she ducked underneath it. She then jumped into the air, avoiding getting struck by the claws again, and flew away from her attacker, phasing through several tombstones while trying to reach her friend at the other side of the graveyard. The masked ghost followed easily, phasing through the obstacle as she did, then surprised her by coming up from the ground and grabbing a hold of her. Raven was twirled about in the air for a second, until her opponent flew down, drawing a cry from the young sorceress when she was slammed into the ground, losing the book in the process.

Having heard his friend's cry, and earning a cut on the cheek for being distracted by it, Gale summoned a gust of wind that blew his enemy away, then flew down next to Raven. "Any ideas?" she asked, as the masked ghost came up out of the ground and the grim reaper figure flew back towards them.

"I got one," Gale said, materializing earmuffs made of air and holding them out for Raven. "Put these on."

"What're you going to do? Scream?"

"Yep." Raven quickly put on the earmuffs as Gale breathed in deeply. Their enemies charged at them, and when they were close, the loudest, most horrible noise imaginable erupted from the winged boy's mouth. IMENSELY amplified by his powers, his voice was like a thousand blaring trumpets playing over a dozen loudspeakers. And even though the earmuffs blocked out any noise, Raven could still feel the sound waves. The grim reaper and masked ghost were caught full blast, trapped in place by the terrifying noise, Gale continuing to scream until they simply exploded, at which he stopped and dispersed Raven's earmuffs. "You… alright?" he asked his fellow titan, feeling a little tired from the effort.

"You're bleeding," she pointed out.

"It's nothing," he protested. "You don't need to worry about-"

"Just stay put and let me heal you," she said firmly. He stood still without further protest as Raven used her powers to fix his injuries, as minor as they were. As she was doing this, some of her inner emotions decided to speak up in her mind.

'_Now this is an opportunity if ever I saw one_,' Love commented.

'_You should totally go for it!_' Happy pitched in.

'_Yeah, you gotta seize the moment and act, Rae-Rae,_' Bravery added.

'_Logically, if you were to make a move, the current setting and physical proximity between you two would make this the ideal moment,_' Wisdom spoke.

'_So go ahead and kiss the poor boy already_,' Love said. '_You know you want to._'

"Are you sure you're alright?" Raven broke away from her thoughts at the sound of Gale's voice. "You looked like you were spaced out for a moment."

"I'm fine. I just…" 'Oh, what the hell,' she thought to herself. Following her emotions' suggestions, she then leaned forward and gently kissed him on the cheek. When she pulled back, the two of them were blushing a little as a result of her actions. "Thanks for the save."

Gale held up a hand to the spot where she had kissed him. "You're welcome, Raven."

"Rachel, Rachel Roth… when it's just you and me."

"Okay then, Rachel," he said with a smile. "Let's go find the others."

* * *

Following his escape from the armored truck, Robin was now standing in a darkened alleyway, watching closely as a helicopter passed overhead. Convinced that no troopers were going to find him here, he allowed himself a brief moment to relax and spared a look at a newspaper he had picked up. Although he couldn't understand what was written, he could still see the picture of himself after his arrest. "If everyone's looking for Robin, then I can't be Robin anymore." That said, he dropped the newspaper and pulled out an apparatus from his gloves, forcing his handcuffs open.

As he massaged his wrists, he heard the sound of someone walking up behind him. "Give me your money," a male voice said in Japanese, and then in English when he didn't react. Robin turned around and saw a man in a white trench coat, wearing boots, sunglasses and pointing a handgun at him. Robin smirked a little, and then jumped into action. A few gunshots rang out into the night, followed by the sound of someone getting clobbered, and then Robin switched the now unconscious mugger's clothes for his own and left him there.

He walked along by himself, mostly keeping to the shadows, until he came into a particular alleyway with an entrance that lead to a bar, guessing by the motorcycles left outside and the music being played inside. Not bothering to look at the few people standing around the entrance, he made way down the stairs and went in through the door. It was a dingy looking place, with a handful of bikers and patrons of the rough and not entirely so honest looking variety. He simply shoved his hands in his coat's pockets and walked past them, making his way towards the bartender, who nodded at a large, muscular man sitting on a stool, then nodded in Robin's direction.

The big man stood up and looked down at Robin, talking to him in Japanese, although he simply stood there impassively. However, when he put a hand on the Titan's shoulder, Robin grabbed his arm and flung him over his shoulder, sending him crashing into the wall. That done, all the other patrons rushed him at once, intending to gang up on him. However, despite this, within the space of a few minutes of hard fighting, Robin had clobbered the horde of men foolish enough to challenge him. "Speak English?" he asked the bartender, who'd been the only man who hadn't attacked him.

"Yes sir," he said simply.

"Good. This is the worst dive in the worst part of town. So I'm guessing you know a little something about Tokyo's criminals. I'm looking for Brushogun."

"Ha, he's just a myth." Not satisfied with this answer, Robin reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling him close. Troopers don't like us talking about him, alright? They say it… inspires more criminals."

"Inspire me."

"He was real, and very bad, with strange powers."

"Was? Where is he now?"

"Nobody knows. One day he just… disappeared. That's when all the new criminals started showing up." The sound of police sirens and helicopters outside suddenly reached their ears, along with searchlights filtering into the dingy bar. "Tokyo Troopers. And I doubt they're here for me." That said, Robin simply shoved him against the wall and walked away, picking up a biker's helmet on his way out.

He then went up to a small garage where a few motorcycles were standing. He put on the helmet and hotwired one of the motorcycles just as the troopers were getting closer. Revving it up, he zoomed forward and crashed through the garage door, zooming straight past the troopers, onto an improvised ramp and sailing over their heads. And although he gained some distance, it took little time for a pair of cruisers to come after him, along with the helicopters flying overhead. Embarking on an overpass, he weaved in-between the cars and trucks already there, avoiding the troopers' fire. At one point, where they had a free stretch, two police cars crept up on either side of him. A trooper in one of the cars aimed his pistol, only to have Robin pull on the brake, causing him to miss and shoot the other car's tire, which resulted in the second car crashing into the first. However, Robin was forced to come to a stop when he was faced with a barrage of cruisers up ahead that left no space for him to pass. "Give up, my friend!" Daizo spoke into a megaphone. "You cannot win!"

Trapped as he was, Robin then stepped off the motorcycle and took off his helmet, holding his hands up in the air. However, Daizo's smug expression was wiped off when Starfire suddenly came flying through, grabbing her friend's outstretched arms and disappearing into the night before anyone could react.

* * *

Sometime later, Robin and Starfire arrived at their rendezvous point, which was a large, secluded, old style Japanese house. They walked through the sliding doors, coming into a large, empty room, where they lit a few candles on a table to have some light. "You are not the only one who has been pursued," Starfire said to her friend, laying out one of his spare uniforms before him. "We each were attacked and barely escaped with our lives. But we believe this place will be safe… for the moment."

"Thank you."

"I shall give you time to-"

"Starfire?" Robin said, gently grabbing her arm. The two of them then leaned forward, their lips almost touching, when…

"Wazzup!"Beast boy exclaimed as he barged in, Raven, Gale and Cyborg behind him.

"Man, are you ever glad to see us!" Cyborg said, the half robot now fully repaired.

"I am?" Robin asked.

"You're gonna be, once we tell you the news." The four of them walked in, closing the doors behind them.

"Well, after picking up a spare hand, we went back to the crime scene and found a sample of ooze from Saico-Tek," Cyborg spoke. "I ran a full molecular analysis, and after a few thousand comparisons, I got a match. It wasn't blood on your uniform, it was ink."

"Ink?"

"Yeah. Just like the stains on my armor, the streaks on Raven's cloak, and the lipstick from that girl that kicked B.B's butt," he explained, adding the last part with a mocking tone.

"She was a cat girl!" Beast Boy protested indignantly.

"So the criminals are all connected," Robin deduced.

"Because they were all created by the same person," Raven pitched in. She kneeled in front of the little table and set the book from the shop down on it, the others gathering around. "Brushogun, Tokyo's first super-villain. Once, he was an ordinary artist who dreamed of bringing his creations to life. He tried to make that dream come true using Japanese dark magic. His spell worked… but at a terrible price. The darkness stained him, his skin became paper, ink flowed through his veins. He was transformed into Brushogun."

"Drawings… that's what we've been fighting," Robin realized. "Then I didn't actually hurt anyone. I couldn't have hurt Saico-Tek, because he wasn't even real in the first place."

"They were ink," Beast-Boy muttered.

"All of them," Starfire added.

"Which, of course, would explain why Saico-Tek disappeared when he set off the sprinklers," Gale noted.

"So Brushogun created him to frame me." Determination set into his eyes, picked up his uniform, the others turning around to give him privacy.

"Hey Gale?" Beast Boy spoke up.

"Hmm?"

"What's that you've got on your cheek?" he pointed to the spot, Raven had kissed him, where there was just a faint trace of dark lipstick.

"Nothing," he said quickly.

The changeling grinned wickedly at this, seeing that Gale and Raven were blushing a little. "Really? Cause it kind of looks like Ra-" Beast Boy was interrupted mid-speech when Gale flicked his finger, sending him flying across the room. The Titans' sorceress silenced any further comments with a look that clearly said 'Shut up and don't ask.'

"Alright, Titans," Robin spoke up once he was done changing into his uniform, the five of them with their full attention directed towards him. "This is our mission. We're fugitives from the law, we've got a criminal on the loose who can make more criminals. And the only way to clear our names is to hunt him down, and bring him to justice."

"Yeah, great plan, but there's this one teensy problem… EVERYBODY IN TOKYO'S OUT TO GET US!" Beast Boy pointed out.

"Guys, incoming!" Gale warned them, his ears twitching as he caught onto a sound from outside.

"Raven, get us out of here!" Robin ordered, at which Raven raised her hands and they were all swallowed by black telekinetic energy and disappeared, moments before Tokyo Troopers surrounded the building and barged in, only to find it empty.

* * *

Later on in the night, the Titans found themselves in a secluded alleyway, after wandering about in Tokyo, and avoiding troopers as best they could, even though they were spotted more than once. At the moment, Beast Boy was in the form of a bloodhound, sniffing the ground, trying to pick up a trail. "Can't you sniff any faster man?" Cyborg asked/complained. "It's a matter of time before someone jumps us again."

"If you'd stayed still and listened to me, I could've cast an illusion around us so they wouldn't have jumped us the last time," Gale said.

"Really?" Robin asked. "I didn't know you could do that."

"It's a new trick I came up with," the winged teen explained. "I just move air so that it settles in a way to reflect light as I see fit." He then held up his right hand, which became invisible, before appearing again a few seconds later.

"That's pretty cool," the Boy Wonder commented. "Could you make an illusion appear out of thin air?"

"Yes, but it's still easier to attach an illusion to something or someone. And besides, since it's only an illusion, you could just stick your hand straight through."

"What if you used your powers to make a solid figure of air, and then cast an illusion around it?" Robin suggested.

"Hmm… hadn't thought of that. If I practiced combining an illusion with a construct, I should be able to come up with some pretty good tricks to use when fighting. Thanks for the idea."

"No problem." They continued walking along for a moment, until Robin stopped, his attention having been caught by something in the distance. "Beast Boy, you can stop. I know where the trail leads," he announced.

The others looked in the same direction their leader was, seeing the building for _Wakamono Shupa_ a ways off. "Brushogun's hideout is the comic book factory?" Cyborg asked, incredulous.

"It's closed, so no one will go in, and there should be lots of ink," Raven noted.

"Told you we should've taken the tour," Beast Boy said, earning himself a smack in the back of the head from the Titans' sorceress.

"Gale, can you make us all invisible until we get there?" Robin asked.

"Give me a minute." All six Titans stood still as Gale concentrated, until he announced that he was done. "Okay. I just put up a 'bubble' illusion around all of us. It'll stay until I undo it, but keep close or else you'll lose the cover."

"Good. Let's go." They then all took to the air, Starfire carrying Cyborg and Robin, all of them staying close enough together to avoid going through the illusion. After a short while, they arrived at the foot of the skyscraper building. "You can drop it now," Robin said to Gale, at which he dispelled the illusion. They then blasted their way through the doors, standing at the ready when they came into a darkened, wide open room.

"No guards," Cyborg pointed out.

As they were walking further inside, they heard a weak moaning noise coming from another part of the building. "This way," Robin whispered, pointing to a set of doors not far from their position. They charged forward, burst through the doors and found themselves in another room like the one they'd just left, safe that this one was larger and had more things in it, including a station with monitors, and a huge printing press. A light flicked up from Cyborg's shoulder, allowing them to get a better look. "Brushogun," Robin said upon seeing the empty seat at the monitors. "He's not here."

A loud noise came from the printing press as a part of it opened up, revealing a ragged looking, shadowy figure half trapped inside. "I am," the figure said in a weak voice.

"Brushogun?"

Cyborg turned his light towards the figure, revealing a worn out old man trapped in the printing press from the waist down, with tubes stuck into his back. "So glad to finally meet you."

"You're not the one behind all this, are you?" Robin asked. "You're just…"

"His slave. He trapped me in this thing… this cursed printing press that uses my powers against my will. The criminals I create serve him now."

"But you sent the card that set me free. You sent Saico-Tek to our tower, didn't you?"

"It was the only way I could call for help. I knew that if one of my creations attacked your home, it would give you a reason to come to Tokyo, and find me."

"So you weren't the one who framed Robin," Cyborg said.

"Saico-Tek was printed twice," Brushogun explained. "I sent the first as a messenger, he sent the second one as a trap."

"Who sent him?" Beast Boy wondered.

"If you're just the brush, who tells you what to paint?" Raven asked.

"That would be me." The Titans turned in the direction of the newest voice, which had come from the chair at the monitor station. "I must say, you Titans have proven formidable adversaries. Once you are destroyed, perhaps I shall print copies of you to serve me."

"Show your face, coward," Starfire demanded. "Who are you?"

"You may hide your face and talk differently, but I can still recognize your voice," Gale said.

"There's only one person who stands to gain from creating more criminals, the hero who catches them. Isn't that right… commander?" Robin asked accusingly.

"Very good, my friend," Daizo said as he turned around to face them. "But you haven't caught me, I've caught you." He then snapped his fingers, at which lights turned on and a bunch of troopers came into the room from all around, pointing their weapons at them.

"So, if the good guy was really a bad guy…" Beast Boy muttered. "Then that means… oh sweet! We're the good guys again!"

"You're a fraud, Daizo, a fake!" Robin spoke up. "Brushogun was the only real criminal you ever caught, wasn't he?"

"One was enough."

"You used his powers to lie, to make yourself look like a hero. And when I started searching for the truth, you made me look like a criminal!"

"That's a nice little story, young man. But I doubt anyone will believe it, once you're all behind bars. Troopers, charge!" The troopers charged forward at the corrupt commander's command.

"Titans go!" Robin ordered, at which they all leapt into action. Robin jumped forward and planted both feet on one trooper, knocking him down, then kicked off and grabbed the next one while in mid-air, flipping him over his shoulder and sending him into the wall. He started to run towards a group of three that opened fire on him, pulling out his staff and vaulting over their heads, then swept their feet out from underneath them.

At the same time, Cyborg charged straight towards a lone trooper, knocking him down with one punch, then turned around and put his arms in front of his face when two more fired at him. He came charging out of the smoke and threw them a ways off with a punch each. Another trooper went to shoot him from behind, but he reacted with surprising speed and was in his face in a second. "Smile," he said, before the light came up from his shoulder and flashed. He then grabbed the blinded trooper and hurled him at another bunch.

Gale summoned a shield of air in front of him as a handful of troopers fired at him, until the one thrown by Cyborg crashing into their midst. Taking the opportunity, he dispelled the barrier and summoned a gust of wind that picked them up off their feet and blasted them away. Another pair came at him from the side, at which he made a slashing motion with his hand, sending forth a blunt blade of air that had them crashing into the wall.

Three more went to fire at the winged boy, but were interrupted when Raven picked them up with her powers and threw them against the wall. She conjured a black shield to ward off another trio's fire, then swung her hands downward, blasting them back with a wave of black power. When a pair of troopers charged at the Titan sorceress, she merely flicked her wrist, sending them careening away with hardly a thought.

A green gorilla picked up one of the troopers and hurled him at one of his friends before he could fire at Raven. Beast Boy then turned into a boa constrictor as Starfire passed over his head and bowled over a half dozen enemies in quick succession. The changeling slithered his way around laser fire, jumping at his attackers and changing into a bear mid-pounce, his large shape easily carrying them to the ground. The Tamaranian girl came flying past him, grabbing two troopers' weapons and breaking them in half, then punching them and another one.

Running from Starfire, one of the weaponless troopers charged at Robin, who jumped back and bounced off the wall, kicking him hard in the head. Surprisingly enough, as his helmet fell back, a large hole could be seen where Robin had kicking him, before he simply melted away in a black puddle. "Ink… Titans, the troopers, they're not real!" he said.

"Which means we don't have to hold back!" Upon realizing that, Cyborg promptly blasted one with a shot from his sonic cannon, and in the same instant, Starfire blew up one with her eyebeams while Beast Boy, as a gorilla, punched one hard enough to literally take his head off.

"It also means there are plenty more where those came from," Daizo spoke up, pushing a button on the panel next to him. Brushogun moaned in pain as his eyes glowed blue and the printing press came to life. Seeing this, Robin charged at the corrupt commander, only to have his staff be intercepted by a pink Saico-Tek, then be forced back by another. All around the Titans, a multitude of ink creatures rose, including more troopers, cat-girls, masked ghosts, grim reapers, blue boys and replicas of the yellow floating ball character that had bitten off Cyborg's hand. One of the latter ink creatures turned its hand into a cleaver and swung its arm at the young heroes, prompting them to take evasive action.

A little blue boy came straight at Robin, fist reared back and glowing with energy. Robin dropped down, avoiding the blue boy, who flew around and came back at him. But before it could connect, in one fluid move, the Boy Wonder leaned to the side, dodging his enemy, pivoted and pulled out an explosive disk from his belt, throwing it at his target. The projectile flew with pinpoint accuracy, catching the blue boy in the back and blowing both up. He jumped up, retracted his staff and shot out his grapple when laser fire was fired in his direction, swinging across the room and kicking a cat-girl as he passed by. Robin landed with grace in the offending troopers' midst, whipping out his staff again and smashing into them.

Beast Boy grunted as his back collided with the wall when one of two cat-girls kicked him. Quickly getting up, he changed into a cheetah and dashed forward with impressive speed, catching them off guard when he slammed into one and smacked the other with his paws. Changing into an ankylosaurus, he dealt the first a crushing blow with his clubbed tail, then changed into a gorilla and took a swing at the second, though she had already recovered and dodged his fist. He swung at her again, unsuccessfully, at which she replied with a kick to the side of his head. But, as she lunged at him, Robin, swinging from his grapple, kicked her in passing, giving the shape-shifter a chance to grab her. The annoying cat-girl now trapped in one of his large hands, he slammed her into the ground, and then stepped down hard enough to squash her head.

Hovering above the ground, Gale swung his sword, sending forth a blade of air that cut a masked ghost in half, then spun around to block a grim reaper's scythe. Another one flew at him from behind, weapon poised to strike, when Gale suddenly dropped down, causing the two grim reapers to collide. He then came up behind the second one and ran both through with his sword, swinging upward and cutting them almost in half. The winged titan dispelled his weapon and conjured a shield in its place to defend himself against laser fire. However, the troopers shooting at him were interrupted when an obsidian claw slammed a yellow ball creature down on them, leaving barely a half dozen intact. The remainder of this particular group were terminated when Gale conjured razor sharp gusts of wind, slicing them into pieces.

At her end, Raven, after dropping the yellow ball character on the troopers harassing her friend, used her powers to grab a few shurikens thrown her way, redirecting them towards a blue boy, who was hit by this and exploded. She then turned her attention towards a masked ghost coming at her, and raised a black shield when it was close, the creature splattering against it. A lone grim reaper flew towards the young sorceress, who surrounded both hands with her powers, making it look like claws, and chanted. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" She then released the energy surrounding her hands, shooting it out at the incoming scythe wielder. And despite being able to block some of the attack with its weapon, enough made its way through, one shot blasting the grim reaper figure square in its skeletal head.

Weaving around a pair of troopers' fire, Starfire did a mid-air roll, throwing two starbolts powerful enough to disintegrate their targets on contact. She was soon set upon by a cat-girl who sprung off the ground at her. Starfire dodged one kick thrown at her by said cat-girl, blocked another and then lashed out with a powerhouse punch, her Tamaranian strength causing the unfortunate creature to involuntarily fly down and splatter against the floor. Turning her attention towards a trio of shurikens sent her way, she blasted them with her starbolts, only to have a second Saico-Tek come down on her with a double kick, forcing her to the floor below. The first Saico-Tek made to move towards her, only to have her get up, spin around and promptly blast him out of existence with her eyebeams.

Over at his end, Cyborg was, at the immediate moment, jumping around laser fire, as well as a steak knife and fork hand. The knife hand swung, though he was able to block and push it away, catching the giant fork that stabbed at him. Holding a firm grip, he pulled on the arm, bringing its owner close enough to put a hole in its chest with his fist. Shifting his arm, he blasted a few troopers with his sonic cannon, then changed it back and caught a long yellow arm that swung down at him. This time, he spun the creature around like a wrecking ball, ploughing through the troopers' ranks and released it.

The yellow creature travelled across the room, towards where Robin was facing a little blue boy. Seeing the large projectile coming his way, the Boy Wonder leapt up onto a stack of large boxes, leaving his enemy to be picked up like the rest and splatter against the wall. A steak knife hand swung down at his current perch, prompting him to jump out of the way and run up the creature's arm. He then stabbed the yellow ball in the head with his staff, ink flowing out of the wound, until it crashed down on the floor in a black puddle. Upon looking up, Robin could see Daizo, running away on a catwalk. "Starfire, give me lift!" Hearing her comrade's words, Starfire picked him up and flew him to the catwalk, dropping him down on it, effectively cutting off the corrupt officer's retreat.

"Running away? I guess they just don't make heroes like they used to," he said, returning Daizo's earlier comment back at him. In response, the commander pulled out a laser pistol and fired at Robin, who simply twirled his staff in front of himself, deflecting the shots, and then threw it forward, knocking the gun out of his hands, following that up by leaping forward and hitting him with a flying kick.

"Give it up, my friend," Daizo said, acting confident despite everything. "You cannot win."

"I'd say I just did."

"You can knock me down all you like," he went on, slowly backing away from the Boy Wonder, who followed at the same pace. "Destroy me, if you wish, it doesn't change a thing. When this is over, everyone out there will still think you're a criminal. And the people of Tokyo will still call me a hero."

"I know what it means to be a hero, commander," Robin said. "And trust me, you are no hero." Daizo then stopped, looking down over the cat-walk. Sparing his adversary a smug grin, he suddenly leapt over, falling down into the printing press. Brushogun cried out as the machine started to act up.

"Uh oh. This can't be good," Beast Boy commented as things began to shake up all around them. Large pipes flowing with ink erupted from the floor, attaching themselves to the walls while the machine shook even more and ink poured out of Brushogun's mouth. All of a sudden, there was a booming explosion, and all six Titans were forced outside and unceremoniously dumped on the comic factory's grounds. Getting to their feet, they could see the entire building tearing itself up. Then, from the dust and smoke came a pair of long black arms, a huge black ink behemoth rising up, standing as tall as the building had been. The giant had a red mouth and eyes, Brushogun was trapped in the middle of its chest, and there were large pipes over its body, including a bunch at its shoulders that were waving in the air like tentacles. "That's a lot of ink."

"Gonna be one heck of a stain when this is over," Cyborg noted.

"He may have Brushogun's magic, but I don't know how long he can control it," Raven spoke up.

The giant raised both hands, ink dripping down in masses that transformed into hordes of the different ink creatures and troopers they had previously fought, in all manner of colors. A streak of thunder and lightning boomed across thick night clouds, adding to the 'dark' atmosphere hanging in the air. "My, my, there's quite a few of them," Gale said, cracking his knuckles.

"What must we do?" Starfire asked.

Robin's answer was simple. "Erase him." The giant then reared back one of its massive hands and swung down, hitting nothing as they moved out of the way.

Robin jumped into action with all his usual grace and skills, kicking a cat-girl in the face, then bouncing off her to deliver another kick to a Saico-Tek next to her. While still in mid-air, he flung a birdarang that embedded itself in a grim-reaper's skull face, and when his feet touched the ground, he nimbly leapt aside to avoid a cleaver hand swinging down at him. He then executed a backflip, at the same time throwing a couple of explosive disks at the two enemies in front of him, blowing them away.

As this happened, a dozen of their more humanoid enemies came charging at Cyborg, latching themselves onto him after he'd taken down a few of them. Struggling for a moment, he managed to overpower them and sent them flying away. While they were in the air, he shifted his arm into his sonic cannon and blasted a handful of them at one end, while Starfire flew by and hit the rest with a flurry of starbolts. A floating ball character came towards the cybernetic teen, who grabbed a hold of its arm and flung it into the path of another one, blasting them both into oblivion with a powerful shot from his cannon arm.

A bunch of masked ghosts and grim reapers and two copies of Saico-Tek chased after Gale in an aerial pursuit. The winged boy put on a burst of speed and materialized his trademark sword in one hand. He then formed a transparent wall of air in front of himself, flipping his body around to kick off it and suddenly flew in the opposite direction. Now rushing headfirst towards his pursuers, Gale held out his sword arm to the side and began to spin rapidly, the flashing blade cutting his enemies into ribbons. That done, his sword began to glow a little as he dived down towards a large group of enemies, at the same time as Raven was coming at them from the other side.

The Titans' sorceress shot out a blast of dark energy from her hands, while Gale thrust his sword forward, releasing a charged beam of wind, the two attacks eradicating the bunch of ink creatures in a snap. Raven then saw Starfire caught in one of the giant's tentacles, who slammed her into the ground a few times, before his limb released her and reared back. She dived down to stand in front of her friend as the tentacle stabbed at them, conjuring a black telekinetic shield to ward it off, then lashed out with her powers, slicing the limb into pieces, her and Starfire flying away before the giant tried to hit them again.

At his end, Beast Boy found himself set upon by a multitude of different enemies. He first shifted into a tiger, lunging at a Saico-Tek and sinking his fangs into its neck, then became a rhinoceros, his armored skin protecting him against a grim reaper's scythe. The offending skeletal creature was promptly impaled on his horn and tossed aside as Beast Boy shifted into a grizzly, barrelling through a bunch of enemies, before changing into a T-Rex, clamping his mouth around a floating ball character. The ink creatures charged him simultaneously, their collective weight dragging him down a little, until Cyborg blasted a few of them off his back with well-placed shots from his sonic cannon. He then shifted into a hummingbird, flying up a little, and changed into a whale, his now massive weight crushing them all flat.

Robin flipped back, avoiding laser fire and bolts of energy sent his way. Drawing a pair of disks from his belt, he threw them at his immediate opponents, who exploded upon being hit. With a moment to spare, Robin looked up, seeing Brushogun trapped in the giant's chest, sinking in bit by bit. A determined expression on his face, he began to run forward ploughing through a few enemies that were in his way, and dodging the giant's tentacles that came down at him, jumping onto one of them and running up along it. Drawing his combat staff as a handful of ink creatures popped up on the limb ahead, he leapt into their midst, expertly twirling his weapon and batting them aside. As he charged through the last one, he ran up a little higher, and jumped towards the ragged old man, planting his staff in the giant's body near him. "How do I stop him? How do I break the spell?" he asked.

"Without me, he is nothing. You must remove me… from this machine," Brushogun managed to say, before being engulfed completely. Letting go of his staff, Robin planted both hands in the giant's body, making a grab at the trapped old man and trying to pull him out. However, as he was doing so, bits of ink reached out and ensnared his legs and arms, dragging him in despite his efforts, until he was engulfed as well. Laughing maniacally, the giant villain lashed out in the air with its tentacles, catching both Raven and Starfire. It then smacked Gale with one of its massive hands, making him crash into the ground, and slammed another into Beast Boy and Cyborg.

The three boys stood still as they looked up at the spot their leader had disappeared into, their colossal enemy laughing in triumph, until its expression changed into worry and surprise. Robin stuck out a hand, pulling both himself out, and dragging Brushogun along with him. As they were falling down, he shot out his grapple, which caught in the giant's body, allowing him and the freed man to land safely on the ground. "You… saved me…" he said, closing his eyes in peace, fading away until he was gone.

With his disappearance, all his creations melted away into puddled of ink, while the giant's body began to fall apart. "Brushogun's spell, it's breaking," Raven said. The colossal creature's form bubbled up, ink falling down in torrents, until it finally burst, splattering all the Titans in ink.

"Everyone alright?" Robin asked, brushing off a bit of ink.

"We're fine," Cyborg said as Beast Boy helped him stand.

"Same here," Raven pitched in as she grabbed Gale's hand to pull herself up, the teen girl smiling a little.

"Starfire!" Robin called out, seeing the Tamaranian's arm sticking out from a blotch of ink. He ran over and helped her out of it, holding her gently in his arms. "Starfire… are you okay?"

"I am now," she replied. At that moment, water began to pour down from the sky, soaking the Titans and washing away the mess of ink, which revealed the now unconscious Daizo lying on the ground, at which Gale twirled his index finger, binding him in coils of air.

"I think I was wrong before," Robin said as he and Starfire stood up.

"You do?"

"Maybe… a hero isn't all that I am. Maybe I could be… maybe we could be…"

"Robin?"

"Starfire?"

"Stop talking." The two of them then leaned forward until their lips touched, sharing a tender, heartfelt kiss, wordlessly expressing their emotions for one another.

"Well it's about time," Cyborg said as he and the other watched the happy couple.

* * *

The following day, Daizo was locked away in prison for his treachery, Robin's name had been cleared, and almost everyone in Tokyo knew about the young heroes' accomplishments. In fact, at noon, the six of them were standing on a podium, with a TV screen showing the team of heroes for the HUGE crowd around them to see. "So I guess you're not a wanted man anymore," Cyborg said to Robin.

"Hmm… I wouldn't say that," he replied, him and Starfire holding hands.

Beast Boy, who was standing next to Cyborg, looked at Raven and Gale, who were standing on the other side of the happy couple, then leaned in to whisper to his half metal friend. "Now that Robin and Starfire are together, we just need to wait for Raven and Gale to do the same." Cyborg grinned a little, giving his green friend a short nod in agreement. All of them stood still as the mayor came up to them, with another man who was holding a cushion with six medals on it.

The mayor smiled happily as he bowed at the Titans, who returned the gesture, keeping their heads down as he began to place the medals over their heads. "For uncovering the truth, for pursuing justice, and protecting out city from a treacherous evil, I present these medals to Tokyo's newest heroes, the Teen Titans." The Titans stood straight and waved as the crowd cheered and clapped loudly.

"So… I guess we have to go back home now, huh?" Beast Boy asked after a moment had passed.

"You know, sometimes even heroes need a vacation."

"Maybe we could go to Karakura?" Gale suggested.

"I don't see why not. Why don't we go first thing tomorrow?"

"Works for me. Thanks."

* * *

That evening, not entirely far from Tokyo, in his home in Karakura Town, Ichigo Kurosaki sighed contently as he lay on his bed doing nothing more than simply relaxing. However, the fifteen year old teenager's peace was disturbed when a petite, raven haired girl barged into his room, holding a sketchpad in her hands. "What is it, Rukia?" he asked lazily as he saw her come in.

"Ichigo, you just have to see this!" she said excitedly. "I just did a true masterpiece of art!" He sat up on the side of his bed to look at a drawing that she had done on her pad. It showed a crudely drawn, apparently female bunny, with long black hair in a braid falling down its back who was dressed in a black kimono outfit. Next to the first bunny was another one similarly dressed, except with a white haori overtop. The second one also had long black hair in a braid, except that it was hanging in front of her. And to top it off, there was a third bunny, this one apparently male, with orange hair, who was being hugged by the first two. "Well?" Rukia asked expectantly.

Ichigo looked at the drawing for a moment before giving his answer. "This was after I'd recovered from fighting Byakuya and Aizen. Shelliane and Unohana were saying goodbye before I left the Soul Society."

"I know. So what do you think?"

"It's nice… even though your little bunny drawings still look kind of stupid."

"What'd you say!" Rukia spoke up indignantly.

"I said your little bunny drawings look stupid."

"Why you little…" The raven haired girl then promptly smacked him in the back of the head.

"How dare you insult our beloved Rukia!" a new voice resounded. This was followed by someone diving at Ichigo, who stuck out his foot, kicking them in the face. The person in question turned out to be none other than Isshin Kurosaki, Ichigo's annoying father.

"Shut up, dad," Ichigo said, annoyed.

"I see your reflexes are as sharp as ever!" Isshin said as he sprung to his feet. "But that doesn't mean I'll let you get away so easy!" The crazy, borderline child abusive father lunged at his son, the two of them fighting it out for a few brief moments, until Ichigo knocked him down with a punch to the face. "Okay… you win. You've done well, my son."

"I'm going downstairs to watch TV," the orange haired teen said, stepping over his dad, with Rukia following him. The two of them made their way downstairs and sat on the couch, Ichigo grabbing the remote and turning on the TV, flipping through the channels. "Crazy old man," he muttered under his breath.

"Come on, Ichigo," his little, brunette sister Yuzu spoke up, from where she was sitting at the table. "Why do you and dad have to fight all the time?"

Her twin, a girl with black hair who had a bored expression on her face, answered for her brother. "Because dad's a lunatic with the maturity of a preschooler."

"It can't be good for them," Yuzu noted.

"Whatever," Karin said, unconcerned by it all.

The relative peace was broken by the sound of the phone ringing. Karin went to pick up the phone, and after a few seconds, informed Ichigo that the call was for him. The orange haired teen stood up and put the receiver to his ear. "Yeah, hello?"

"ICHIGOOOOOO!" a ridiculously loud voice spoke up on the other end of the line.

"What is it, Keigo?" he said annoyed by the volume of his schoolmate's voice. "And don't talk so loud."

"Are you watching the TV?" he asked in a more normal tone.

"Yeah."

"Then switch it over to the news channel right away! It's the coolest thing ever!"

"What is?" Ichigo inquired, just the slightest bit curious.

"THE TEEN TITANS ARE IN TOKYO! IT'S SERIOUSLY THE COOLEST AND MOST WICKED AWESOME THING EVER!" Ichigo held the receiver at arm's length as Keigo shouted loud enough for all of them to hear.

"Okay, I'll check it out. Bye." Ichigo then hung up and used to remote to come up with the news channel his schoolmate was so excited about. What came up was a video, apparently put together with footage taken from peoples' cameras and phones, which showed the Titans' fight against the giant green Godzilla like monster. Karin and Yuzu stood up and came closer to the TV, and Isshin came downstairs to join them. They watched the battle against the green monster, then saw footage of their fight against the ink giant and its minions, along with receiving an explanation of what had happened with Daizo being corrupt. Following that, there was the part where the Titans were honored for their actions by the mayor himself, which showed the group as a whole, then an individual shot of each of them.

"Wasn't that Amicus?" Yuzu asked after the news story was finished.

"Yeah," Karin answered. "Not like there are a lot of people who look like him."

"Little Amicus and his hero friends are not far away!" Isshin said with excitement. "How wonderful that is! I bet Shelliane would love to see him as well!"

"It has been a while since the last time we saw him," Ichigo commented.

"Umm, excuse me?" Rukia piped up. "I'm still a little confused. Would someone mind explaining to me who these 'Teen Titans' are? And why you all seem to know the one they call Gale?"

"The Teen Titans are a group of teenaged super-heroes from Jump City in America who fight monsters and villains and protect people," Karin explained. "Gale, the one with wings and has air powers, well, his real name is Amicus Rhodes and he's our cousin."

"He's your cousin?" Rukia asked, visibly confused by this.

"His mother was Kelly Rhodes, one of mom's sisters, and his father, well… none of us really knows who he was," Ichigo spoke up. "Anyway, every year Amicus and his mother would come here for Christmas and spend a week with us. But, at Christmas seven years ago, they didn't come, and we hadn't heard a single word from them."

"What happened?"

"We travelled over to Jump City… and found out that Kelly had been killed by a rampaging villain almost a year before, and that Amicus had gone missing," Isshin said with a solemn expression. "Apparently, someone, probably Amicus, beat up the villain, who was then consumed by his own powers."

There was a moment of silence before Yuzu interrupted by speaking up again. "At least now he looks like he's living a good life, with his friends," she said with a bit of a smile. "And since he's not too far away right now, and he's finished with the bad commander, maybe he'll come pay us a visit."

"Oh joy!" Isshin exclaimed. "I'm sure little Amicus can hardly wait to see his favorite uncle again!"

"If he sees how much of a lunatic you are nowadays, he might just run off," Karin noted, rolling her eyes as Isshin clutched his chest and pretended to be shocked by her words.

"I hope I get to meet your cousin," Rukia said to Ichigo. "He sounds like an interesting person."

"He's a nice guy," Ichigo replied. "And it would be fun to see him again."

* * *

so, that's finally done. By the way, as for the Bleach timeline of events, it is after the bount arc and before Ichigo begins his training with the Vizards. Anyway, hope you liked it and please review.

The Titans head to karakura town in the next chapter.


	22. Heroes, Hollows and Soul Reapers Part 1

**Disclaimer: I DONT OWN THE TEEN TITANS! And I don't own Bleach for that matter.**

**Okay then. So, here we are with part one of the titans in karakura town chapter. More to come later. Enjoy!**

By the way, Robin will have already done his training with the True Master (from the episode 'The Quest') before they left for Tokyo.

**That aside, I'd like to thank AVP5 for his help.**

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Heroes, Hollows and Soul Reapers – Part 1**

Ichigo Kurosaki lay still on his bed as he was sleeping. At the moment, he was having a dream about the last time he had seen his cousin Amicus and his aunt Kelly. In the dream, a seven year old Ichigo, along with his two little sisters and his parents were sitting in their living room, which still had Christmas decorations even with the holiday itself having been two days past. "Mom? Are they coming soon?" Ichigo asked his mother.

"Don't worry, Ichigo," she said, smiling at her son. "Kelly said they should arrive any time now." The sound of a car pulling up in front of the house was then heard, soon followed by someone knocking at the door. "That must be them."

Isshin went to the front door, with his family behind him, opening it widely, seeing a beautiful woman with long black hair and dressed for the winter weather outside. "Yipee!" he said excitedly, hugging her. "It's so good to see you, dearest sister in-law!"

"A pleasure to see you too, Isshin," she replied kindly.

"And where's little Amicus?" Isshin asked, looking around. "Where's my favorite nephew?" An eight year old boy with pointy ears, greenish skin and also dressed in winter clothes tentatively came out from hiding behind his mother, though he still clung to her leg a little. "Don't be shy, come here and give your uncle a hug!"

With a little encouraging push from his mother, Amicus stepped forward and went to hug his uncle. "Hi uncle Isshin," he said, albeit shyly.

"Why don't you come inside?" he suggested. "Let me take care of your things."

"Thank you," Kelly said, allowing her brother in-law to grab their few bags, while she and her son stepped inside the house, shedding their winter clothes and jumping into a round of greetings with the rest of the Kurosaki family. "Masaki, it's great to see you again," the black haired woman said, hugging her sister.

"Good to see you too," she replied.

"Amicus!" Ichigo greeted his cousin with a bright smile. "You're finally here!"

"Hi Ichigo," the green skinned boy returned the greeting. "Hi Karin, hi Yuzu."

"Cousin Amicus!" the two young girls cried out with joy as they jumped at their cousin, who, despite his shyness, smiled and returned their embrace.

Before long, the happy relatives were all cosily sitting down in the living room, with hot chocolate and Christmas treats, and bringing each other up to date on what had happened. "Soooo… Amicus, did anything happen to you lately?" Ichigo asked at one point.

"Well… Seth moved away two weeks ago," the young boy said in a bit of a sad tone.

"Who's Seth?" Yuzu asked, curious.

"Well, he's an older boy who looks after me at school," he explained. "He's nice, and he's like my big brother. But now he's gone."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be alright," Ichigo reassured him.

"Amicus, why don't you bring out the gifts you made?" Kelly suggested.

"Okay." He went into his bag and pulled out a piece of paper. "I made this for you and uncle Isshin," he said to his aunt, then showed them his drawing of Isshin with his arm around Masaki's shoulder, while she had hers around his waist. It was not perfectly done, but was still of remarkable quality, especially for one so young.

"This is very sweet of you, Amicus," Masaki thanked him with a warm smile, similar to his mother's.

"Great work. You're a natural born artist!" Isshin complimented his nephew, causing him to blush a little due to the praise for his drawing.

"I, umm, I have something for you too," he said to his cousins, digging in his bag again and pulling out three small packages, giving one of them to Ichigo, Karin and Yuzu. They pulled off the wrapping paper and opened up three boxes, each of which contained a simple looking dream catcher adorned with a few beads and had three brown feathers dangling from the bottom.

"Those are dream catchers," Kelly explained to her nieces and nephew. "You hang them up in your room, and when you sleep, they're supposed to keep away bad dreams, but let the good ones through"

"Did you really make them yourself?" Ichigo asked.

Amicus nodded coyly at this. "Well… I used some feathers that I lost, but mommy helped."

"Thanks a lot! Hey mom, this is so cool!"

"That's great, Ichigo," Masaki said, returning her son's bright smile. The others proceeded to exchange a few gifts, all of them revelling in the joy and happiness they got from simply being together.

* * *

Ichigo's sight came into focus as he woke up from his dream, hearing the sound of his alarm ringing up a storm. With a slight yawn, the fifteen year old got out of bed and turned it off. Seeing what time it currently was, he decided to get dressed, before heading downstairs for breakfast that his sister Yuzu would undoubtedly prepare for them. As he was pulling off his night shirt, Isshin crawled out from underneath his bed. "SURPRISE ATTACK!" the insane father cried out, lunging at his son's legs, making him fall to the ground.

"What the hell, dad!" Ichigo said, punching his father in the face, then planting a foot in his stomach and kicking him off. "Why would you do something stupid like this?"

"You need to stay sharp at all times, son!" Isshin replied, jumping to his feet. Ichigo dodged to the side as his father lunged at him again, then spun around and kicked him hard in the rear, sending him through his open doorway and crashing into the wall outside his room. That done, he went to the door and slammed it shut just as Isshin was getting it up again, smacking him in the face and locking it for good measure. Once he was finished getting dressed for another day at school, he walked out his room and went downstairs. There, he sat down at the table with Rukia, Karin, his father, who was sporting a few bruises, and Yuzu, who had made breakfast and set it out for them.

"How did you get those bruises?" Rukia asked Isshin as they were eating.

"I was just busy attempting to teach my idiot of a son to remain on guard at all times," he answered. Just at that moment, they all heard the sound of someone knocking at the front door. "I'll get it!"

"Just don't go attacking whoever's at the door," Ichigo muttered, his tone obviously annoyed.

"Come on, Ichigo," Rukia reassured him. "I'm sure your father wouldn't go so far as to-"

"POW!"

"You were saying?" the orange haired teen spoke up with a raised eyebrow. They all looked at the door, seeing Isshin who was lying flat on his back, and a group of six teenagers, four boys and two girls, who were standing outside. One of the girls was tall, with tan skin, green eyes and long, fiery red hair, and was wearing a white, short sleeve shirt, long gray skirt and knee length boots. The other girl was shorter, with black hair, brown eyes, and was dressed in blue jeans and a green shirt.

Of the boys, the tallest was African-American, bald, apparently well built, sporting a gray shirt and black pants, and had an odd watch on his wrist. The smallest of them was lean, with short, light bluish hair, wearing a pink/purple shirt, beige shorts, sneakers and another odd watch. The remaining two boys had short black hair, and were similarly dressed, safe that one wore boots, black shades and had a short sleeve shirt, while the other had a long sleeve shirt and wore nothing to obstruct his blue eyes.

"Dude!" the shorter boy exclaimed. "What was that about?"

"How should I know?" the boy with shades shot back, being the one who had knocked Isshin down. "He just jumped at me."

"Sorry about my dad," Ichigo addressed them in English. "But who are you?"

"My friends you haven't met before," the other black haired boy replied. "But we saw each other seven years, eight months and two weeks ago, give or take a week." Ichigo frowned as he thought about this. "You three still have the dream catchers I gave you for Christmas?" he asked, directing the question at the three Kurosaki children, at which it suddenly clicked with them.

"No way," Ichigo said half disbelievingly.

"Is it really you?" Karin asked, surprised.

"_Itoko-sama?_" (_Cousin?_) Yuzu piped up.

"Little Amicus!" Isshin exclaimed excitedly as he jumped to his feet. "Come in, all of you, come in." The six heeded his request and stepped inside, closing the door behind them.

"You can drop the disguises if you want. We all saw the news last night and told her about you," Ichigo explained, noticing the glances directed at Rukia. "Don't worry, I trust her to keep it secret." At that, Beast Boy and Cyborg removed their holo-watches, revealing their true appearances, while Gale snapped his fingers, causing the illusions he'd put up around him and Raven to fade away.

"My favorite nephew!" Isshin said joyfully, hugging Gale tightly. "It's been sooooo long!" Gale smiled a little as he hugged him back. "This is my adopted, yet beloved third daughter, Rukia Kuchiki!"

"Pleased to meet you," the small raven haired girl greeted politely.

"Likewise," Gale replied. "So… These are my friends, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven." The Titans all greeted the Kurosaki family in their own way as Gale told their names. "Guys, this is my uncle Isshin, and my three cousins, Ichigo, Karin and Yuzu."

"You've certainly changed," Ichigo remarked. "Whatever happened to that shy kid who wouldn't let go of his mom's leg?"

A sad look came onto Gale's face as he caught a glimpse of the poster of his aunt that was hung up on the wall, with the words 'Masaki Forever' written on it. "Same thing as the kid who was always smiling and holding his mom's hand." Silence reigned for a moment, until Gale spoke up again. "When did it happen?"

"She died in June, when I was nine," Ichigo answered. "She died protecting me."

"Just like my mom did for me," the winged boy said, as Raven placed a hand on his shoulder. "Neither of them deserved this."

"I am deeply saddened by your loss," Starfire said.

"Losing someone close always hits hard," Robin added.

"It's tough, but we'll live on," Isshin spoke up. "After all, that's what she would have wanted."

"I don't mean to ruin the moment, but school's starting soon," Rukia reminded them after a short while had passed.

"Right, we should go then," Ichigo said.

"Will we see you later?" Karin asked.

The titans looked to their leader, who nodded in response. "We had plans to tour around town, but I'm sure Gale will want to see you all again. And maybe the rest of us will stop by if you'd like."

"That's great!" Yuzu exclaimed.

"Why don't you come by school at lunch so you can meet my friends?" Ichigo suggested to his cousin as they got up to go out, lowering his voice to when he got close enough to him. "You can bring your girlfriend too if you like," he whispered. "Nice meeting you all."

"Same here," Robin replied.

"Have a pleasant day," Starfire added.

"See ya round," Cyborg pitched in.

"Later dudes," Beast Boy said.

Raven and Gale simply nodded politely at them, the latter with a blush tainting his cheeks because of what Ichigo had said to him. "I hope you all have fun exploring Karakura town," Isshin spoke up once his children and Rukia were off.

"Thanks," Robin said in return. Cyborg and Beast Boy then put their holo-watches back on and Gale cast the same illusions to disguise himself and Raven again. "Bye, and nice meeting you."

"Later, and enjoy yourselves," Isshin waved them off as they went outside. After a brief group discussion, Robin and Starfire decided to head their own way, while Beast Boy and Cyborg went off somewhere else, intentionally leaving Raven and Gale by themselves.

* * *

Sometime later, Ichigo and Rukia were walking to the high school by themselves, given that Yuzu and Karin had gone off to the middle school. "What's the matter, Rukia?" the orange haired teen asked. "You've had a weird look on your face since you met my cousin and his friends."

"I noticed your cousin's friends have pretty high spiritual pressure, far more than most people do, especially Raven."

"Okay… so what about it?"

"The weird thing is your cousin wasn't emitting any spiritual pressure at all."

"Really? I didn't notice that."

"Every being, even an ordinary human, has at least a tiny amount, and even someone who was able to keep their spiritual pressure controlled should still give off enough for me to detect it, but I couldn't sense any. It's almost as if his body acted like some sort of special gigai that completely hides someone's spiritual pressure."

"That is weird," Ichigo agreed. "But I doubt it's anything to worry about much. I'm more concerned about any arrancars like those other two showing up again."

"With the level of spirit energy they all have, if any hollows or arrancars show up, there is a fair possibility that they'd be targeted."

"We'll deal with that problem if it happens. One thing though, I need your promise that you won't reveal my cousin's secret, or that of his friends. That includes to anyone from the Soul Society."

"Don't worry, Ichigo, I give you my word not to tell a soul, no matter who it is."

"Good. Now, let's just get to school."

* * *

After going off on their own for a while, Raven and Gale had shed the disguises when they found themselves in a secluded place, and then they'd taken to the air. "So… was there anything in particular you wanted to do?" Raven asked as they were flying along.

"Actually, I wanted to go to the cemetery to see Masaki's grave first."

"Okay then." They continued onward in silence, Raven following her friend, until they arrived near their intended destination. They flew down and since there weren't any people around, Gale didn't bother to put up their disguises again. "How're you going to recognize which tombstone is your aunt's?"

"I can read just enough Japanese to tell which one I'm looking for," the winged boy explained. The two of them wandered around for a short while, until they came upon Masaki's grave. Raven simply stood there silently as her friend kneeled down before the tombstone, speaking quietly, as if talking to his aunt. "Hey, Masaki, it's me, your nephew Amicus. Been a while since the last time I saw you, and back then you were still alive. Sorry I couldn't come earlier, but… well, after mom died, I ran away and didn't have the means to come over. Ichigo, Karin, Yuzu seem to be doing alright, and Isshin's even crazier than usual. Me, I'm living with my friends. We're a team of heroes called the Teen Titans, and we were in the area, so I figured we'd drop by."

Not long afterwards, Gale said goodbye and stood up, walking back to Raven. "Ready to go?" she asked, at which he gave her a nod in return. However, just as they were about to take off, they caught a glimpse of a young girl, no more than ten, standing in the trees a short distance from them, who was rather small and looked pretty much ordinary. "Hey kid, what're you doing out here all alone?"

"You can see me?"

"Yeah… I'm talking to you, aren't I?" Raven shot back in a sarcastic tone of voice. "Why wouldn't I be able to see her?" Gale flew over to the little girl, followed by his fellow titan, and landed in front of her. With a closer look, the young sorceress could see that oddly enough, the girl was semi-transparent, and even weirder, had part of a chain hanging from her chest.

"You're dead… aren't you?" Gale asked.

The little girl nodded at this. "I remember…my family… we were walking… and I fell down the mountain. When I woke up, I was like this."

"Okay… this is weird, even by our standards," Raven commented, turning to look at her friend.

"I've always been able to see dead peoples' souls," the winged boy answered her unspoken question. "And given the nature of your powers, it's really not surprising that you can see her too, just like you could see that wind spirit, Iocus. Though it's kind of strange, I haven't seen that many deceased souls back home."

"So… what are we supposed to-" Raven began, but was interrupted when they suddenly felt the presence of something in the air. The feeling was followed by a loud, inhuman roar, causing the two Titans to be on high alert.

"It's one of those bad monsters that try to eat me!" the girl cried out, grabbing onto the young sorceress' leg in fear. A crash was heard a short distance from them, and then a monstrous creature came into view. It was massive, easily as tall and large as Cinderblock, with two bulky arms, a pair of bat like wings, and most noticeable, was a gaping hole in its chest and a skull masked face.

"**What's this? I didn't think there were this many of you here… More souls for me to eat!**" the monster spoke in a rough voice, laughing to itself. "**You've got pretty high spirit energy, girl, but your friend doesn't have any**."

"What is that thing?" Raven asked.

"Hollow," Gale answered as another's memory flashed in his mind, eyes locked on the creature intent on devouring them. "It's a deceased human soul that becomes corrupted and tries to satisfy itself by eating other souls, alive or dead. Though I'm not sure how I know this, given that I've never even seen one before."

"**So you can both see me, even though you're human… I'm going to eat all three of you!**" The monster lunged at them, only to crash face first into a barrier of black telekinetic energy, then be picked up by Raven's powers and sent crashing through a couple of trees.

"Guess what?" the young sorceress spoke up. "We're not your average humans."

"Can you protect the girl while I handle this thing?" Gale asked, at which Raven nodded.

"**Handle me?**" the hollow asked, laughing incredulously. "**You might not be ordinary humans, but you're not even a soul reaper. How do you think you're going to-**" The winged boy interrupted the hollow when he reached out with his mind and commanded the air underneath to blow it upward. He then materialized his trademark sword and swung it in a wide arc, sending forth a large blade of air at the hollow. And although the monster put up its arms in front of its face, the attack still hit hard enough, black blood spewing from what was now a single arm and a bloody stump. "**You'll pay for that!**" the hollow cried out in pain, gathering a red ball of energy in its wide open mouth.

However, before it was able to fire off its attack, Raven blasted the monstrous being in the head with a beam of black power, making the red energy blow up in its face, seriously damaging it in the process. Its pain and misery did not last long, for Gale then flew up and swung his sword, cutting the hollow vertically in half, its body fading away into nothingness. Their enemy defeated, the winged boy flew down and landed next to Raven. "You two are amazing," the little girl said in awe. "You killed that monster like it was nothing."

"It's okay," Raven said, attempting to sound reassuring. "There's nothing to worry about."

"What happens now?" the departed soul inquired.

"_Ahem, if I may,_" a new voice spoke up, drawing their attention. The voice belonged to a young looking girl, who had pointy ears, earth brown skin, and was dressed in what appeared to be a bunch of vines, with leaves and flowers in her hair.

"Are you an earth spirit?" Gale spoke up.

"_Actually, my lord, I'm a forest spirit. My name is Herba._"

"So, do you know what we're supposed to do now?" Raven asked.

"_Normally, a soul reaper would perform a konso in order to send a lingering soul to the Soul Society, or the afterlife, if you wish,_" the earth spirit explained. "_However, as there are none here, you…_" she pointed to Gale. "… w_ill simply have to do this task instead._"

"... How does that happen?"

"_You must tap this young girl's soul on the forehead with two fingers, and the rest will work itself out._"

"Okay then… are you ready to pass on?" he asked the little girl.

"Yes sir. Thank you for protecting me." Gale then reached out with the two first fingers of his right hand and gently tapped the lingering soul on her forehead, at which she faded away.

"_Well done,_" Herba commented. "_If you don't mind, I'll be leaving now._"

"Can't you explain about the Soul Society, hollows, or any of this stuff first?" the winged boy asked.

"_Sorry, but I am a forest spirit, not a wind spirit, or any others of that type. I'd recommend that you ask one of them, or talk to a soul reaper. Good day._" And with that said, she disappeared into the ground.

"Well… this was certainly an odd experience," Raven noted.

"Not to mention the fact that this is all familiar to me, and yet, like so many things, I have no clue as to why that is," Gale said, an edge of frustration apparent in his voice.

Raven gently laid a hand on his shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Don't worry, Amicus. I'm sure you'll find answers someday."

"Thanks, Rachel," he said, giving his friend a small smile in return.

* * *

Over at their end, Beast Boy and Cyborg had decided to go wandering around the streets for a while. The two titans in question had chosen to keep their holo-watches on, so that they could explore to their hearts' content, without attracting all the attention that they would normally get. And during their earlier discussion with the rest of the Titans about their disguises and such, Cyborg had chosen to go under the alias of Stone, the same he'd used when infiltrating the HIVE Academy, while Beast Boy had picked the name Logan to go with his cover. After a while of simply wandering around like so and taking in the sights, they wound up at a small café, having decided to grab a bite to eat since they were hungry. When a waitress came over, Cyborg ordered for both of them, given that the practice he'd had and his internal computer systems allowed him to speak Japanese well enough. After a heated, yet somewhat controlled argument, Beast Boy managed to convince his friend to get him something without any meat in it.

Soon enough, the waitress came back, setting down a large order of tofu stir-fry in front of Beast Boy, and another batch with meat in front of Cyborg. Given that it was rather nice weather, they had their order as take-out, and after paying for it, they left to go eat at a table outside. "Hey Stone," the changeling spoke up while they were stuffing their faces. Cyborg merely looked at his friend, his mouth obviously full. "Did you notice anything weird about that girl earlier, what's her name… the short one with black hair?"

"Karin?"

"No, no, the other one."

"You mean Rukia?"

"Yeah."

"What about her?"

"I dunno. It's just that… I saw her looking at us funny back at Ichigo's house. I mean, I can sort of understand, what with the obvious reasons and all that, but she was looking at us funny even before then."

Cyborg had a pensive expression on his face as he thought about his friend's words. "Hmm… I guess she was looking at us in a funny kind of way. At first I thought she just wasn't used to seeing folks like us, but now that I'm thinking about it, she did have this look on her face before we even came in, even though it didn't last long." The cybernetic teen shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, I doubt it's anything to worry about. It's not as if she reacted anywhere near as much as when Isshin opened the door."

"Yeah, that dude's way off his rocker," Beast Boy agreed. "I can only imagine what it must be like for Ichigo, if his dad's really as crazy as he looks."

At the mention of the orange haired teenager's name, a young looking man in his mid- twenties or so who was passing by stopped at their table. The guy in question had bright blue eyes, very dark, messy blue hair, and wore casual clothes, including a t-shirt with a grinning skull face. "Hey, you guys know Ichigo?" he asked, speaking English.

"Not that much, really," Cyborg said. "We're friends of his cousin."

"Oh, I see. I'm Ryu, by the way."

"Nice meeting you," Beast Boy said, shaking his hand. "I'm Logan."

"And my name's Stone," Cyborg introduced himself.

"Nice grip," Ryu commented as he shook Stone/Cyborg's hand. "You must be pretty strong."

"You could say that," the cybernetic teen replied. "Wanna try arm wrestling me or something?"

"Yeah… why not? But I warn you, I'm pretty strong myself."

"You're on!" They then cleared off a space on the table, with Beast Boy moving aside and Ryu sitting down in his place. The two opponents gripped hands tightly and started to put pressure against the other's arm as soon as Beast Boy said go. After a moment, Ryu managed to break the stalemate, pushing Cyborg's arm down bit by bit, grinning a little with confidence as he progressed. A matching grin suddenly appeared on Cyborg's face, at which he put in a boost of strength, steadily forcing his opponent's arm back until it hit the table.

"We have ourselves a winner!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Damn, you've got some muscles," Ryu noted.

"Thanks, you were pretty tough," Cyborg said.

"So what're you guys doing in this part of the world?" Ryu asked. "You don't quite look like you're from around here."

"We're from the USA," Beast Boy answered. "Us and a couple others decided to take a vacation in Japan, so we all came over. Then our friend Amicus told us about wanting to see his cousin in Karakura Town, so that's why we're here."

Ryu had an apparently interested look on his face. "Say, you guys still hungry? Cause I know a good place where you can get a load of candy for pretty cheap."

"Sweeeet!" the disguised teenagers exclaimed. "Lead the way." The three of them then got up, with Beast Boy and Cyborg finishing off the few remaining bites, then tossing out their meal stuff in a garbage can. The two teens followed Ryu as he led them along the streets, talking about whatever came to mind along the way, though both parties avoided spilling too many details about where they were from and such. After walking for a while, they ended up arriving at spot that was fairly quiet and out of the way, where they came upon a small, modest building.

"Welcome to the Urahara Shop," Ryu declared pulling the sliding doors open and letting them walk into a room that looked about as unassuming as the shop's exterior, with two kids inside. One was a red headed boy with a somewhat mean looking face, and the other, a small, quiet girl with black hair in pigtails. "Hey, Jinta," the blue haired man spoke to the boy in Japanese.

"Wadda you want?" he shot back. "And who're those guys?"

"They're customers," Ryu replied. "Now where's Kisuke? I need to have a word with him."

"He's in the back," Jinta answered uncaringly.

"I just need to talk with the manager for a moment," Ryu said to the disguised titans, reverting back to English. "If you see him picking on Ururu, feel free to give him a good whack on the head."

"Err… okay," Cyborg said. Ryu then went into the back of the shop, leaving Cyborg and Beast Boy behind. Cyborg spoke in Japanese as they went about, given that Jinta and Ururu weren't fluent in English. Just as they were finishing their business, Ryu came back, accompanied by a man with sandy blond hair, wearing a green and white bucket stripped hat, a pair of wooden sandals and black coat flapping open.

"Greetings, my American friends," he spoke to them in perfect English, waving a fan in front of his face. "How are you both doing on this fine day?"

"We're good," Beast Boy answered. "I guess you're the guy who owns this place?"

"Why of course. My name is Kisuke Urahara, owner of this humble little shop." Ryu rolled his eyes at the shop owner's flourishing bow. "A pleasure it is to meet you two." He then reached into an inside pocket of his coat, pulling out a pair of candy bars with yellow wrapping that he tossed to the disguised teens. "Here, one of my special concoctions. It's on the house, if you eat it now." Cyborg and Beast Boy promptly pulled off the wrappers and ate the candy bars.

"Good stuff, dude," Beast Boy complimented.

"Why thank you. And please, have a wonderful day exploring Karakura Town. Just watch out for any monsters that might try to eat you." Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at Kisuke with expressions of surprise at the mention of monsters, but then laughed it off when he gave them a mirthful smile.

His expression became more serious and business like after the two left and closed the door behind them. "You were right, they do have an unusually high level of spiritual pressure," Kisuke said to Ryu. "And you said that one of their friends is Ichigo's cousin, Amicus. I wonder about him…"

"By the way, what did you give them?" Ryu asked.

"Just a little invention of mine to help them out." Ryu raised an eyebrow at this, and was about to make a comment, but was interrupted when he suddenly felt a notable presence not far from them. "A hollow… Come now, I want to see how our American friends deal with this."

* * *

A short distance from the Urahara shop, Beast Boy and Cyborg, still in their disguises, were walking along, with no one else but themselves around, each of them eating from their own bag of candy they'd gotten. At one point, Beast Boy randomly happened to sneeze. "Bless you," Cyborg said.

"_Arigatō, Saibōgu_," (_Thank you, Cyborg_) the younger boy said. Just as the words popped out of his mouth, both of them froze in their tracks.

"Wait a second… since when do you know Japanese?"

"_Watashi wa nihongo o shiranai,_" Beast Boy replied, causing his eyes to pop out. "I do not know Japanese… How the heck am I speaking Japanese right now when I couldn't understand a word of it ten minutes ago?"

"I haven't got a clue," Cyborg admitted. "But somehow, I can understand it perfect as well, without resorting to my translator or anything like that."

"This is too weird," 'Logan' commented. "You think it has anything to do with that hat n' clogs dude?"

"For all I know, it might just-"

**ROOOOOOOAAARRRRR!**

The two teens froze in their places as they heard the loud, inhuman roar, their senses on high alert for whatever it could have originated from. At the same time, they could detect a malevolent presence in the air, one that seemed like it was pushing at them from all around. This was soon followed by a large crash on the empty street behind them. They turned around and saw what could only be a monster. It looked like a giant praying mantis, with four arms shaped like sickles, a wide hole in its chest, and a boney mask on its face shaped like a star. Its beady yellow eyes gleamed with hunger as it stared at the two titans.

"Ooooookay… I totally was not expecting something like this to happen," Beast Boy said.

"That makes two of us," Cyborg added.

"**So, you can see me, eh?**" the large hollow asked.

"Kinda hard to miss something as big and ugly as you," the smaller teen noted.

"**For humans, you've got some pretty good spirit energy. He, he, he… I was expecting to see one of those pesky soul reapers, but I'm going to enjoy devouring your souls anyway. Time to eat!**" The mantis like monster lunged towards the two titans, only to have them move out of the way, its sickle arms embedding themselves in the ground. When it turned around, they had removed their holo-watches, revealing their true appearances. "**So I guess you're not just ordinary humans then… No matter, I'm still going to eat you!**"

"I kind of like being un-eaten, so… not gonna happen," Beast Boy said.

"We're used to fighting weird monsters," Cyborg pitched in. "So I doubt you'll be much different."

"**We'll just see about that!**" the hollow shouted. It then lunged at the green teenager, who changed into an ankylosaurus, the creature's arms harmlessly bouncing off his armored hide. He retaliated by whipping his tail around, catching the hollow in its chin, sending it flying. As it was falling back down, Cyborg hopped onto his friend's back, jumped off, shifted his arm and fired a blast from his sonic cannon at their enemy, causing it to slam hard into the ground. "**Damn you!**"

Beast Boy turned into a hummingbird, making a beeline towards the hollow, zooming around it for a few seconds, until he suddenly got behind it. He then changed his form to a grizzly, slamming the monster hard in the face with one of his paws. Cyborg, holding an uprooted lamppost in his hands, noticed that their enemy's mask was chipped from the blow his teammate had delivered. "Yo B! Hold it still!" he called out.

"Got it!" The green boy obliged, first changing into a fly to avoid getting cut up, then turning himself into an octopus, grabbing a hold of each of the hollow's arms, effectively restraining it as Cyborg came charging in. Holding it still until the very last moment, he shifted to a gnat a millisecond before Cyborg slammed his improvised weapon as hard as he could in its face, shattering its mask into many small pieces. The hideous monster gave one final cry, before it finally died, its body dissolving into ash.

"I don't know what that was, but I will say one thing… Booyah!"

"Way to go, dude! We totally kicked that thing's butt!"

The two titans turned around at the sound of someone clapping, seeing that it was Kisuke, along with Ryu, safe that he was wearing a black kimono and hakama, along with a pair of swords at his waist. "Well done," Kisuke congratulated them. "Splendid performance, I must say."

"Soo… I guess you saw all that?" Cyborg asked.

"Pretty much," Ryu answered. "Nice job, taking down that hollow so easily. Pretty good for first timers."

"That thing was a hollow?" Beast Boy wondered. "What does that mean? And what's up with the outfit and the swords? And wait… you really saw everything, including before the fight?"

"Yes indeed," Kisuke said. "We saw you taking off what I assume were holo-watches, or something of the sort. And besides, I can recognize your spiritual pressure from when I met you both earlier. Why don't you gentleman accompany me back to my shop so I can give you the run over about all this and answer your undoubtedly numerous questions?"

The two titans looked at each other, then shrugged their shoulders. "Lead the way."

* * *

After parting with their friends, Robin and Starfire decided to go about the town, exploring at their leisure. And while they chose to remain dressed in civilian wear, they still had their uniforms on underneath, just in case the occasion arose. And as it would turn out, while they were walking along a mildly occupied street, they heard a small, yet loud explosion, which turned out to be seven armed robbers breaking into a bank. Seeing this, the two Titans quickly ran into an alleyway, where they were able to ditch their civilian outfits away from prying eyes. That done, Starfire grabbed her boyfriend's hand and they flew out onto the scene, having decided to deal with it themselves, but prepared to call their friends if things got too serious. They flew into the bank quickly, landing before the small gang of robbers, men in black ski masks, who were obviously surprised by their appearance.

"_Kōfuku, aku no to,_" (_Surrender, evil doers_) Starfire demanded firmly.

"_Kesshite!_" (_Never!_) one of the robbers shot back defiantly.

"They do not wish to surrender," the alien girl informed Robin.

"Oh well, you tried," he said, the two of them leaping into action as the robbers went to try shooting at them. Starfire threw a starbolt at the apparent leader, making it just powerful enough to pick him off his feet and knock him out. At the same time, Robin dashed forward, pulling out a bo staff from his belt and extending it to full length, using it to vault up into the air, landing a flying kick at one robber, then pivoting around and taking the wind out of another when he planted the end of his staff in the villainous man's stomach.

One of the men brought his gun around towards the Boy Wonder, only to be tackled by a not so happy Tamaranian. Starfire lifted him with one hand, and effortlessly threw him into one of the other men, both of them crashing into a desk, while Robin downed another one in two quick moves. The only one who was remaining shook in fright while facing the two heroes. His eyes nearly popped out of his head when Starfire grabbed a gun with both hands and tied a knot in it as easily as if it were rope. At the sight of this, he dropped him weapon and raised his hands in the air, showing his complete surrender. "Great job, Star," Robin congratulated his girlfriend, who smiled brightly at this.

Soon after, the police came around to arrest the criminals, thanking the Titans for their help. Starfire grabbed Robin and flew away before they could be swarmed by people wanting to thank them, or ask for their autograph or anything of the sort. They made their way to a spot where they put their civilian clothes on again and walked back out on the streets, with none the wiser. The two of them continued on in peace, walking along until they arrived at a quiet park, apparently devoid of any people but themselves. "You know…" Robin spoke up as they sat down on a bench. "I'm glad we came to Tokyo, especially since it brought us together."

"I am glad as well," Starfire replied with a smile, both of them leaning closer to share a soft, tender kiss. "And since being in Tokyo has brought the two of us closer, perhaps our time here will do the same for our friends Amicus and Rebecca," she said, Rebecca being the alias that Raven had chosen to go with while disguised. Robin had a confused look on his face at this. "Did you not notice it before? How they seem to go so well together?"

"Umm… now that you mention it, I guess I kind of saw something with the two of them, but I never really paid much attention to it. Is that why you, Logan and Stone looked like you were making sure to leave them alone after we left Ichigo's house?"

"Yes indeed. This was part of the plan where we hope that their spending time together by themselves will develop the feelings they have for one another."

"Ohh… I see." The two of them stayed on the bench for a while, making light conversation, until they saw a little boy who came out from behind a tree. Seeing him, Starfire called out to the boy, who jerked in surprise at this.

"You… you can see me?" he asked.

"Yes, of course I am able to see you, young one."

"Kory," Robin spoke up, calling her by her 'civilian' name. "There's something strange with this kid."

"Indeed there is. It seems strange how he is surprised by the mere fact that we can see him."

"Yeah, but I meant that there's a chain sticking out of his chest." The two of them gently approached the boy, at which Starfire could see that her friend's words were true.

"Please, tell us, what is the meaning of this?" she asked, pointing to the chain in his chest. "And why would we not be able to see you?"

"I was walking once… then there was a car going fast… and when I woke up, there was this chain, and I could see my body lying on the ground, and no one could see or hear me."

"Wait… you're telling us that you're dead?" Robin spoke up, disbelievingly, at which the young boy nodded. "Okay… this is a little unexpected."

"I must admit that I am also surprised by-" Starfire began, but was interrupted by the suddenly appearance of a dark presence floating in the air. "This feeling… there is something evil nearby."

No sooner had she said those words that something crashed into the ground close to them. When the dust cleared, the two Titans could see a monstrous creature standing menacingly before them, with a wide head, like that of a hammerhead shark, covered by a white boney mask. That aside, it had a long, snake-like tail, a hole in the center of its chest, and was about twice their size or more. "It's one of those evil monsters!" the little boy cried out.

"Fear not, young one," Starfire reassured him. "We shall protect you from this creature."

"**You two must have pretty good spiritual pressure if you can see me,**" the hollow spoke in a raspy voice. "**I'm going to devour you both… and that boy as well. Three souls in one day, heh heh heh…"**

"Get out of here, now!" Robin said to the boy, who happily obliged.

"**You two look tastier… I'll just eat that kid later.**"

"You will do no such thing!" Starfire declared, shedding her civilian clothes, standing defiant in her uniform, with all her Tamaranian glory. Robin quickly yanked off his disguise in favor of his own uniform, taking a stance with his staff in both hands.

The hollow then jumped in the air and came down at them, prompting Starfire to grab her friend and fly out of the way. Without the need for words, she swung him around and threw him, the Boy Wonder flying like an arrow straight for their enemy, until he slammed his staff hard into its back, forcing it to the ground. He nimbly leapt off before it could bring its tail around to hit him, and jumped to the side when he touched the ground, one of the creature's arms pounding where he'd previously been. It tried to hit him with a few hard punches, but Robin successfully managed to dodge them all and did a back-flip that put a little distance between them.

Having a clear shot, Starfire fired her eyebeams at the hollow, blasting it off its feet and sending it crashing through a tree. It picked up the top half of the tree and threw it at the alien girl, who flew straight through and continued towards her target, only to have it 'ripple' and disappear. Starfire crashed into the spot she had seen in a second ago, and instinctively flew back next to Robin. "It appears to have the power of invisibility," she noted. "This will make things difficult."

"But not impossible," Robin said. His mind went back to the quest he'd undertaken in order to train with the true master, particularly his second challenge. 'You cannot trust your eyes… You cannot trust your ears…' he thought to himself, remembering the blind snake's words. He then relaxed, put away his staff and closed his eyes. "When I give the signal, hit it hard," he told Starfire, who nodded, though somewhat confused. 'You must go beyond what you see…' He concentrated for a moment and then… "Strike of the Flying Serpent!" he cried out, running forward and lunging at his foe, slamming into it with enough force that it was pushed back a little and became visible again. "Dual of the Leaping Monkey!" Robin gracefully danced around the monster's swings, then hopped onto its tail, climbed up and planted both feet in the back of its head. "Claws of the Iron Bear!" The Boy Wonder put both hands together and struck the hollow's mask hard enough to create a spider web of cracks. "Starfire, now!" he called out, jumping away.

Filled with righteous fury, Starfire flew forward with impressive speed, a starbolt covering her right hand, which she slammed into the middle of the hollow's face with all her Tamaranian strength, completely obliterating its boney mask with a single blow. The hollow wasn't even able to cry out, before its body exploded in a shower of spiritual energy, catching the teenaged girl full face, causing her to fall to the ground. "Starfire, are you alright?"

"Do not worry, I am fine," she replied. Robin then took her hand in his, helping her stand up, then pulled her close, capturing her lips in a heartfelt kiss, which she returned with passion.

"Well, isn't that cute." Robin and Starfire broke off their kiss, looking around for who had spoken up, but only seeing a black cat. "Yes, that was me talking just now," the cat said in a masculine voice.

"A talking cat…" Robin pointed out. "Well… it's not the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

"I did not think that earthly cats possessed the ability to speak," Starfire said. "This one must be special in some way."

"Indeed I am. But where are my manners? My name is Yoruichi."

"I'm Robin."

"And I am Starfire, from the planet Tamaran. I am very pleased to meet you."

"Likewise… I must say, your fighting skills are remarkable, as were the techniques you used," the cat told Robin. "And your strength and powers are impressive," Yoruichi complimented Starfire. "You should be commended for being able to destroy that hollow without the use of spiritual powers."

"Thanks, but would you mind explaining what the deal was with the dead kid?" Robin asked. And that monster you call a hollow?"

"I have a friend not far from here who I'm certain would be very interested in meeting you both, especially given the level of spiritual pressure you both have. He's not far from here, so why don't you follow me, and I'll start explaining about the world of spirits along the way." Robin and Starfire looked at each other, before agreeing to follow the mysterious black cat. "Excellent. Come along then."

* * *

Later again in the day, over at Karakura High School, Ichigo and Rukia were sitting on the roof of the school while having lunch. They were accompanied by the orange haired teen's spiritually aware friends, meaning Chad, Uryu and Orihime. The members of Toshiro Hitsugaya's taskforce who were posing as high school students joined them soon after, with the exception of Ikkaku and Yumichika. "I can't quite understand how the hollows have been disappearing like this," the short soul reaper captain muttered as he sat down with everyone else.

"Is it possible Ryu and Shelliane have been the ones taking care of these hollows?" Chad asked.

Toshiro shook his head at this. "There have only been a small handful so far, but they all appeared and were dealt with at the same time, not to mention that they were at too great a distance from each other. I suppose Ryu might have defeated one, but Lieutenant Rhodes wasn't close enough when they appeared. Yoruichi and Kisuke aside, there's the possibility that someone we don't know about has been defeating these hollows."

Ichigo and Rukia gave each other a sidelong glance, thinking about a few particular people who might be responsible. Their moment of silent contemplation was disturbed by the sound of someone coming up the stairs. A few seconds later, Raven and Gale, in the same disguises they'd had at Ichigo's house, came through the doorway and onto the rooftop. "Hey," Gale greeted his cousin in English. "I thought I'd take you up on your invitation, assuming you don't mind."

"No, not at all. Come on, sit down," he invited them, at which they complied. "Everyone, this is my cousin Amicus, and his friend, umm…"

"Rebecca," Raven answered.

"Right… Anyway, they're here on vacation, so they decided to drop by." Ichigo then took the time to introduce everyone else to the two Americans. Chad, a quiet, tan skinned giant, Uryu, a dark haired teen boy with glasses, Orihime, a 'gifted' bubbly orange headed girl with a cast on one arm, Renji, a guy with flaming red hair in a ponytail, Toshiro, a short, white haired boy, and Rangiku, a strawberry blond woman even more 'gifted' than Orihime.

"Soo… where are you from?" Rangiku asked Gale in a flirtatious tone.

"We're from Jump City, California," Raven answered in his place, apparently annoyed at the way the voluptuous woman was leaning a little towards her friend.

"You have any family in Jump City?" she pressed on.

"A step-father who hates me and a half sister who doesn't like me much either," Gale said simply.

"Is Rebecca your girlfriend?" Rangiku asked, smirking a little as she noticed the jealous tick on Raven's face. Raven and Gale's faces suddenly turned a shade of red at the question.

"No, she's just a friend… a good friend, who happens to be a girl. But she's not my girlfriend."

"That's right," Raven agreed, though not without feeling a slight pang of disappointment. "We're only friends, nothing more."

The busty woman's smirk grew wider. "Is that so? Then why did you sound so jeal-"

"That's enough, Rangiku," Toshiro interrupted, looking at her with a stern face.

"Aww, you're no fun," she pouted.

"You said you're from Jump City, correct?" Uryu spoke up.

"Yeah, that's right," Gale confirmed.

"I heard that the Teen Titans were in Karakura just today."

"I saw on the news what happened in Tokyo, but I didn't know they were here."

"It's true," Orihime piped up excitedly. "I heard that Robin and Starfire stopped a bank robbery not so long ago. The two of them swooped in and beat up the bad guys just like that."

"I've heard about these Teen Titans," Renji said. "They're this team of super heroes, like the Justice League, except they're teenagers. They fight against bad guys, villains, monsters and stuff."

"Since when do you know so much about super heroes, and the Teen Titans?" Ichigo asked the red head.

"Well… Jinta's a big fan of heroes, especially the Teen Titans. So I kind of picked up a few things from him. I think they're pretty cool."

The group continued talking amongst each other, with Ichigo and Amicus taking the opportunity to catch up on what had happened, although no mention was made of the latter's superhuman abilities or the former's life as a substitute soul reaper. The two American teens still did talk about the Teen Titans, answering some questions from those who knew less. At one point, after subtle, almost innocent flirting with the disguised winged titan, Rangiku got closer to him and reached out to ruffle his hair. "I like your hair."

"Err… thanks?" he replied hesitantly. Looking over at his friend, he found that Raven had a frown on her face and was obviously annoyed. "What's with you all of a sudden?"

"Nothing's wrong… nothing at all," she said dryly, her annoyance reflected in the tone of her voice.

"Okaaaaayyyy…" Gale muttered, unconvinced by her answer. Regardless of such, nothing more came of this, until…

"You're just too cute!" Rangiku cried out, randomly and unexpectedly hugging him, which resulted in Raven suddenly getting to her feet.

"Nice meeting you all, goodbye," she said stiffly, then went to walk away. Gale pried the strawberry blonde woman off of him, then got up and gently grabbed a hold of Raven's wrist. "What?"

"What's gotten into you?" he asked with concern. "Why are you so mad like this?"

"Whoever said I was? Do I look like that to you?"

"Maybe not that much… but you're acting all closed off, like that time with… that guy."

"Don't you talk to me about that bastard!" she spoke louder than before, surprising all the others who leaned away from the angry girl. "You know what he did, or did you forget so soon?"

"No, I haven't forgotten what he did," Gale replied, his tone rising a little. "I'm just trying to understand why you're acting so annoyed and angry, but you refuse to tell me anything."

"You should be able to figure it out, unless you're too preoccupied getting cosy with your new friend."

"Alright, what is your problem?"

"You're the problem, you insensitive idiot!"

"I'm the problem? Oh, I'm sorry, Ms. holier than thou, stay out of my way or else I'll step on you."

"Cry-baby momma's boy!"

"Whining daddy's girl!"

"SMACK!"

Gale's head snapped to the side when Raven slapped him in the face, letting go of her hand in shock. And although she was certainly angry, she hadn't used her powers, but even so, his left cheek still stung like hell. "I'm leaving, and don't follow me," the teen girl said, storming down the stairs while he merely stood there.

"Amicus…" Ichigo tentatively spoke up. "Are you alright?"

Gale sighed at this. "I'll be fine… I just need to be alone for a while."

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about-"

"No, I'd rather not."

Rukia put a hand on the orange haired teen's shoulder. "Come on, Ichigo. If your cousin wants to be left alone, then we should respect that."

"I… I'm sorry about all this," Rangiku spoke up, her tone and expression both apologetic. "I didn't mean to…" she cut herself off mid speech when Gale turned around. As he frowned at her, the illusion he had around himself faltered, showing his glaring golden eyes for a second, before he regained control again.

"Bye Ichigo," he said, turning towards his cousin. "It was nice catching up with you." He then turned back around and walked down the stairs.

Silence reigned for a while amongst the group of soul reapers and spiritually aware humans following Raven and Gale's departure. "Ichigo… what's with your cousin's eyes?" Renji asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"They were gold," Rangiku said, a certain measure of awe in her voice. "Like an eagle's eyes."

"It seemed like Rebecca had really powerful spiritual pressure," Orihime pointed out. "Maybe she took care of one of those hollows earlier."

"Maybe," Uryu agreed. "With that level of spirit energy, she'd definitely attract hollows."

"The thing I find strange… is how Amicus wasn't emitting any spiritual pressure at all that I could detect," Toshiro noted.

"Do you know if he can see spirits?" Chad asked Ichigo.

"When he and his friends appeared at my house this morning, we didn't exactly talk about this kind of stuff," he answered. "And the last time I saw him before that was almost eight years ago, so I can't tell if he's able to see spirits."

"Lack of spiritual pressure aside, there's something strange about your cousin," Toshiro commented, turning his attention towards Ichigo. "What is it, Ichigo Kurosaki? You look like you know something that you're not telling us."

"Sorry Toshiro, but there's a good reason for that," the orange haired teen said. "What you're asking about… that's personal. If you really need to know, ask him directly, but I'm not about to tell you, and neither will Rukia," he added, giving the petite woman a serious look, at which she nodded in agreement. "In any case, we should be worrying more about Aizen's plans, instead of my cousin and his friends. And besides, it's time to get back to class."

* * *

Following their encounter with the mantis like hollow, Beast Boy and Cyborg had followed Kisuke and Ryu back to the Urahara shop. When they arrived there, they saw a mirror image of Ryu when they had first met him, and were even more surprised at the sight of the black robed one literally walking into him. After Jinta jumped at them while exclaiming how cool they were and demanding for an autograph, since they weren't in disguise this time, the Titans were led to a room where they sat on the floor at a round table. A tall, light tan skinned, muscular man with square glasses, a handlebar mustache, white shirt and blue apron stepped in the room soon after, carrying a few mugs of steaming tea. "Good timing, Tessai," Kisuke greeted him.

"Thank you, boss," he said in a deep voice, setting down the mugs in front of them.

"This is my friend, Tessai," the shop owner said to the two titans. "Tessai, this is Beast Boy and Cyborg of the Teen Titans."

"The Teen Titans?" he exclaimed. "I have heard many great things about you and your team, like how you defeated the corrupt Commander Daizo. It is truly an honor to meet you both."

"Thanks, dude," Beast Boy said.

"They had an encounter with a hollow earlier," Ryu said for Tessai's benefit. "They defeated it and now we brought them here to explain a few things." The muscular giant nodded as he sat down with the rest of them.

Kisuke cleared his throat, gaining the Titans attention. "Now… in this world, a person's soul is linked to their body by what is called the chain of fate. At death, the chain of fate is severed, and the soul passes on to a place called the Soul Society, which you would consider the afterlife. You with me so far?"

"Yeah… I think so," Cyborg said. "What about that monster, the thing you called a hollow?"

"Yes, yes, I was coming to that. You see, spirits don't always go straight to the Soul Society. A lingering soul like this is called a whole, and looks like any normal person, except that they have part of their chain of fate dangling from their chest and only people with enough spirit energy, such as yourselves, can see them. If a soul lingers for too long, their chain of fate will begin to tear into itself. In this case, if a soul reaper doesn't come along and sends them to the Soul Society, they will continue losing their chain until there's nothing left, in which case they will become a hollow, like the one you encountered earlier. And once a spirit turns into a hollow, it becomes obsessed with satisfying its hunger by consuming souls, whether living or dead."

"That's nasty," Beast Boy commented, making a face at this. "So what're soul reapers then?"

"Souls that have passed on and gained supernatural abilities," Ryu explained. "A soul reaper's job consists mainly of sending lingering spirits to the Soul Society, and killing hollows. We mostly use special swords called zanpakuto, as well as kido spells."

"Except that you have a habit of not using kido, seeing how you're even worse at it then Renji," Urahara said with a smirk.

"Shut up," Ryu snapped at the blond shopkeeper. "Anyway… When a soul reaper kills a hollow, its cleansed of any sins it committed as a hollow, and is sent to the soul society, but if it did anything really bad before that, then it gets sent straight to hell."

"So… do all hollows look the same?" Beast Boy inquired.

"Actually, in most cases they are about as different as many people are to each other," Tessai answered. "However, two features shared by all hollows is a hole where the chain of fate used to be, and a bone-like mask."

"It's weird, but I just remembered something…" Cyborg muttered. "When I was only a few years old, I stumbled upon this diary my mother had kept for a while. There was this part describing a dream she had, back when she was still expecting me, about being attacked by some kind of monster that she couldn't see much of, but had a white mask on its face."

"Hmm… it sounds like your mother might have been attacked by a hollow and had her memory modified, but still remembered some of it," Kisuke mused. "I find it somewhat odd though, as there are only enough lingering souls and hollows in America to bother stationing even a handful of soul reapers. You see, Japan in general, particularly Karakura Town, is important spiritual ground, which hollows are attracted to. However, as a whole, America seems to be the opposite, and repels hollows instead. In fact, from what a friend told me, one of the most recent reports of a hollow appearing in America at all was on May 26 seven years ago."

'Gale's mother was killed on May 26 seven years ago,' Cyborg thought to himself. 'He said it was a jacked up villain who did it, but this is too much of a coincidence.'

The half metal teenager's musings were interrupted by the opening of the sliding door and Jinta poking his head inside. "Hey boss…" he spoke up. "Yoruichi's here, to see you. And she's brought a couple more of the Teen Titans with her too."

"Well don't just stand there, let them in," the blond man said. Jinta then backed away and slid the door open further, allowing for a black cat to come strolling in, soon followed by Robin and Starfire, who were in their uniforms.

"Friends Cyborg and Beast Boy, what are you doing here?" Starfire inquired.

"Would you believe it if we said we were attacked by a monster with a white mask and a hole in its chest who wanted to eat our souls?" Beast Boy asked.

"You're kidding…" Robin said. "You guys too?"

Cyborg had a look of surprise at this. "Wait a sec, you were attacked?"

The four Titans then went around relating to everyone what had happened on their respective ends. When it got around to explaining about soul reapers, hollows and such, Yoruichi informed everyone that she'd already educated Robin and Starfire about the basics, although they still explained a little more in-depth, with Tessai demonstrating a harmless kido spell, Kisuke poking his cane at Ryu and knocking him out of his artificial body, or gigai as he called it, and telling them a bit about the Soul Society's structure. "So you see…" Tessai spoke up. "The four of you all possess a rather substantial amount of spiritual pressure, which makes it easy for you to see spirits."

"I'm curious to know about the techniques Yoruichi said you used against that hollow," Ryu said, his tone indicating that he was interested. "Not to mention that you were able to hit it when it was cloaking itself and its spiritual pressure. Where did you learn moves like that?"

"Ever heard of the True Master?"

"So you've trained with her then, have you?" Yoruichi asked, at which Robin nodded in confirmation. "That explains it."

"My advice, for the moment at least, would be for you to simply go out and enjoy your vacation time in Karakura," Kisuke addressed the Titans. "And if you see your other teammates, you should bring them over here so that they can learn what you already know about spirits and all that."

"Okay then," Beast Boy said.

"One more thing…" the blond shopkeeper dug into one of his pockets for a moment, pulling out a yellow wrapper candy bar, which he gave to Robin, and four metal gray bracelets, passing out one to each Titan. "If you eat that candy bar, you'll be able to understand and speak Japanese as fluently as anyone," he explained. "And as for the bracelets… should you happen to stumble upon any hollows, all you need to do is slip them on, and you'll be invisible to anyone who can't spirits, leaving you free to fight hollows without being seen by ordinary people."

"Thanks for helping us out like this," Robin said as he opened the candy bar and popped it into his mouth.

"No problem, my friend. And if you happen to stumble upon your other teammates, you should bring them here so they can get to know everything we've explained to you all."

"Sure… thanks again." The four Titans then got up and walked out of the room, leaving the shop without their disguises, deciding to go look for a hotel to stay at during their time in Karakura.

"Kisuke…" Ryu spoke up after they were gone. "What's with the stuff you gave them?"

"Like I said, the candy bar will allow Robin to speak Japanese as fluently as if he were born here," he answered.

"And what about the bracelets?" Yoruichi asked. "Are those really what you told them they are?"

"Well… I will admit that they do contain another certain feature aside from that."

"Which would be?"

"With the level of spirit energy each of them possesses, I wouldn't be surprised that they have dormant spiritual powers, especially after hearing Cyborg's story. The bracelets won't actually give them powers by themselves, that has to come from within, but they will provide a helpful little nudge in the right direction."

"I hope your little trinkets work," Yoruichi said. "Because if any powerful hollows show up, or worse, arrancars…"

"Then they'll be drawn to the Titans like moths to fire," Ryu finished for her.

* * *

So, hope you all liked that, and if you would be so kind, reviews are always appreciated. I'm even accepting anonymous ones now. Part 2 is already in progress.

For the next chapter, things get a little heated up in Karakura Town.


	23. Heroes, Hollows and Soul Reapers Part 2

Disclaimer: I didn't own The Teen Titans or Bleach when I wrote the last chapter, and it hasn't changed since.

Once again, I'd like to thank AVP5 for helping me with this chapter.

Also, Ryu Yamada and Shelliane Rhodes are OC's that were created by yours truly.

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Heroes, Hollows and Soul Reapers – Part 2**

Having left Karakura High School behind, Raven was merely walking about the streets by herself, sulking about what had happened earlier and still disguised by the illusion Gale had put up around her. After going along like this for a while, the young sorceress decided that she wanted to get off the streets, so she walked into a shadowed alleyway, and given that no one else was around, she used her powers to shatter Gale's lingering illusion, and then took to the sky. She flew along in peace for a while, until she was above a river, at which point she flew down and landed on the river's bank

'_How did it come to this?_' Love asked as she sat down at the river's edge underneath a bridge, staring at the flowing water with a sullen look.

'_Yeah, you were all happy up until that scene at the high school,_' Happy noted.

'_It's all that damn, arrogant winged boy's fault!_' Rage spoke up. '_You should make him pay for what he said! He deserves more than just a measly little slap like what you gave him!_'

Wisdom sighed at the red cloaked emotion's upheaval. '_While I do agree that he is not free of fault, I don't believe he deserves anything like what you're insinuating. And it's not like he knows the true extent of his words, and what they mean to us._'

'_Why should we give a shit about that little bastard?_' Rage almost shouted. '_He should still pay for his insults!_'

'_But… aren't we at fault too?_' Timid said softly.

'_What're ya sayin here?_' Brave asked.

'_Well… I know what he said wasn't really nice… but we said mean things too. And he told us about his mother, so we should have known that it would hurt him._'

Rude pulled her finger out of her ear and burped. '_Meh, just let it simmer down for a while. He'll probably be alright if we give him time, or maybe he won't. Either way, something'll have to be done eventually, so let's just wait for now._'

As Raven's internal debate went on, she was approached by ten men who did not look like benevolent people. The young sorceress looked at them when the apparent leader of the gang came close and started talking to her in Japanese. And although she couldn't understand what he was saying, from the lecherous expressions on their faces, she could still hazard a guess. She merely frowned and gave him a serious look that clearly said to leave her alone, though they did not heed the message. "I am not in a good mood right now. So piss off and go away, or you'll regret it."

A few of the gang members halted in their tracks, not having understood her words, but uneasy nonetheless because of the undercurrent of anger in her voice. Regardless of this, the others followed their leader's example and went to make a move on the pale skinned girl. Raven extended one hand, at which an obsidian claw picked up the first two men and dropped them into the river. All the other men then charged her at the same time, prompting her to erect a shield of black energy. However, as she was beating up the gang members, the first two had had time to swim to the side, coming onto the bank behind her. They snuck up on the young sorceress, but before they even came close, they were intercepted by someone who knocked them down with a few expert moves. With the odds even further against them, the men wisely chose to flee the scene, running away as fast as they could, despite the beating they'd suffered.

With that, Raven turned around to face the new arrival, and immediately upon seeing her, she froze. The one in question was a beautiful woman who was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans, appeared to be in her early thirties, had deep green eyes, smooth skin and silky black hair tied in a braid that fell to her mid-back. "You're…" Raven said, shocked at her appearance. "You… painting… just like her."

"I'm sorry?" the woman spoke in English, an apparently confused look on her face.

'Gale said he had an aunt that was his mother's twin,' Raven thought, shaking off her stupor and addressing the woman. "Are you Shelliane Rhodes?"

"Yes indeed," she replied good-naturedly. "And unless I'm mistaken, you must be Raven, from the Teen Titans, correct?"

"Yes."

"A pleasure it is to meet you, Raven. If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?"

"My friends and I are on vacation."

"I meant, what are you doing here in this specific spot?"

Raven had a downtrodden look on her face at this. "Sulking."

"And why would that be? Did you get into an argument with your boyfriend?"

"No, I didn't… yeah, something like that. There was this woman who kept coming onto him, and… seeing that bothered me, and I didn't like that he couldn't tell. We both said things to each other… mean things…" Raven sighed, with a certain edge of despair. "I called him a cry baby momma's boy, even though I knew… and he called me a whining daddy's girl… then I slapped him and ran off."

"Back in the day, Amicus really was a shy little momma's boy, always clinging to my sister's leg. This doesn't sound like what I remember he was like, but then again, it's been almost eight years since I've seen my nephew, and time does change people. And although I'm not fond of what you said to him, I can tell that you're hurt inside."

Raven's face showed surprise for a moment, because of Shelliane having correctly guessed as much, but simply set it aside. "I was the first one he confided to about losing his mother, and the pain he carried inside… he helped me get better when another broke my heart… we got along well, we were close, and now… I'm just not sure what to do."

"If I may be so bold… it sounds as though you-" Shelliane was interrupted when a rip suddenly appeared in mid-air, and three hollows came through.

"**Heh, heh, heh, I smell a pair of tasty souls,**" a hollow with a shark mask said.

"**I smell them too,**" a crocodile hollow spoke up.

"**This is going to be fun. Now let's e-**" a squid like hollow began, but was unable to finish, because Raven lashed out with her powers, sending forth a sharp edge of black energy that sliced it in half, killing it instantly. Rage blazing in her eyes, she then conjured an obsidian claw, which gripped the crocodile hollow's head and squeezed hard enough to crush it like an egg.

"Run… unless you want to meet the same fate as them," the young sorceress threatened the only remaining hollow.

"**You'll pay for this!**" it cried out, lunging at her.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" As Raven uttered her mantra, she let loose a torrent of black, telekinetic energy from her hands, halting the hollow in its tracks and tearing it apart in a matter of seconds, until there wasn't even a shred left. A bat like hollow, having apparently been attracted by the display, started to fly towards the two.

"I've got this," Shelliane said to Raven, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll take care of-"

"I've got this," Shelliane repeated herself, causing Raven to hesitate due to her smile and too sweet tone of voice. The black haired woman then pulled out a pez-dispenser and swallowed a small green candy, at which there was a small flash of light, and she burst out of her gigai, clad in a black kimono outfit, an armband with an insignia on her left arm and a katana at her side. She then raised her right arm, gathering bluish white energy in the palm of her hand, then fired it off in a large, powerful burst which struck the hollow head on, defeating it with a single shot. "Sokatsui, one of Rukia's favorite kido spells, I believe."

"What…"

"Go back to the house, please," Shelliane said to her non-sword wielding lookalike, who merely nodded at this and started walking away. "Now then…" she turned her attention back towards Raven. "If you'd like, we could fly up and I'll explain to you about the world of spirits and everything related to it. I'm sure it'll take your mind off things."

Raven merely shrugged her shoulders at this. "Sure, whatever works," she said, the two of them leaping into the air and flying away.

* * *

Over at his end, Gale had been sulking by himself much like Raven had been doing. After leaving the school, he had also found a secluded place where he was able to drop his illusion without being seen, then fly up into the air. And although flying usually brought about at least some small amount of joy, the winged boy's mood persisted in remaining low because of his earlier argument with Raven. So he simply kept flying along by himself while brooding over what had happened, until he came upon the sight of two men who were harassing a woman. "Who the hell are you?" one of the guys asked as Gale landed in front of them.

"What do you want, you freak?"

"I'm in enough of a bad mood as it is, so I'll make this simple. Get lost."

"Like hell we'll do that. If you're not getting out of our way, then we'll make you."

"Time to make use of that training with Robin," Gale muttered in English as the two thugs advanced on him. The first one came at him with a right hook, which he avoided by leaning his head to the side a little. He dodged a follow up punch in the same manner and brought up a knee in the man's groin. The second one swung a few punches at the winged boy, who blocked them all, then grabbed his wrist and applied a bit of pressure, bringing him down to his knees, rendering him unconscious with a chop to the neck. "You alright?" he asked the woman, turning around to face her.

"Yes, thank you for saving me," she said, attempting to give him a kiss, though he stopped her with a finger on her lips.

"You're welcome. Now just-" Gale stopped mid-sentence and drove his elbow into the stomach of the first thug who had been trying to come up behind him, thus knocking him down. "Just go home or wherever you're headed, and forget this all happened." He then flew up into the air again, away from her and the unconscious thugs.

Later, after flying nowhere for a long while without any particular purpose, he randomly decided to land on a building, sitting down on the edge of the rooftop. A karate dojo was some distance away from his perch, although with his eyesight he could see the people moving about as if he were standing amongst them. Taking his attention away from them, he concentrated with his powers for a moment, and then whistled a single, clear note. A lower note rang out in response, followed by a stormy cloud appearing next to the winged boy, spinning around until it took the shape of an elderly woman. "_You called for me, my lord?_" she asked.

"You're Nebula, right?"

"_That's my name. And how may I help you?_"

"I want to know anything you can tell me about soul reapers, hollows and the Soul Society."

"_It will be my pleasure to provide the answers you seek._" The spirit then started to explain, going from wholes, hollows, soul reapers, the soul society and its structure, as well as the world of hollows known as Hueco Mundo, and so on and so forth.

"So then, my mother…"

"_I'm sorry my lord,_" Nebula apologized. "_But on that same day, a hollow appeared in your home town, and was somehow absorbed by that evil villain. And because of it, when he killed your mother… her soul did not pass on to the soul society._" Despite the grief he felt at hearing this, Gale urged the spirit to continue. She complied with his request, going on about the defection of three of the Soul Society's captains, led by Sōsuke Aizen, former captain of squad five, as well as the mess with the particular race of beings known as bounts, the brief presence of arrancars in Karakura Town, and the soul reaper taskforce sent out following the scuffle with said arrancars. A big surprise came when Nebula told him about Ichigo being a substitute soul reaper, first due to Rukia, then with him awakening his own powers.

"My cousin is a soul reaper… didn't quite expect that. What about Shelliane? Did she become a soul reaper too?"

"_Yes, but not in the same manner as your cousin, my lord. You see… your aunt died not long before your lady mother, from a climbing accident while she was away. She passed on to the Soul Society, and became quite a prodigy in little time, entering the soul reaper academy and graduating after only a year. From there, she joined the fourth squad, led by her mother, Captain Retsu Unohana, and later on became lieutenant to Jushiro Ukitake of squad thirteen._"

"Wait… my grandmother… is a soul reaper captain?"

"_And a prestigious one she is, if I do say so._"

"What about my father?"

"_He… has something to do with the Soul Society._"

"But you're forbidden from telling me too much about him," Gale stated bluntly, at which Nebula nodded. "Figures… Do I have any soul reaper powers?"

"_Not exactly, but you can turn into a spirit form, where you would be like a soul reaper, in that only people with a high level of spirit energy could see you. Essentially, you would become a soul and have the same powers that you do in your regular body, as opposed to soul reapers who pop out of their gigai and can't use their powers unless they do so._"

"Uh huh… and how do I turn into a spirit form?"

"_Simply picture a vast darkness in your mind, with a white circle in the midst of it. Then imagine yourself flying on a current of air and diving into the circle. It works the same way for when you want to revert to your normal body._"

Gale then closed his eyes, clearing his mind of all things and following the steps Nebula had just told him. As soon as he finished, he could suddenly feel an awesome aura of power flaring around himself, though he was able to reign it in with a little concentration. Upon opening his eyes, what caught his attention was the fact that his uniform was entirely black, and a little flex of his wings revealed that they were white, as opposed to their usual brown color. After a short moment, he concentrated again, going through the same steps, and reverted back to his regular form. "That was… strange…"

"_Great control, my lord. Would there be anything else you require of me?_"

"No, that's alright. Thanks for your help."

"_You're welcome. But before I go, I'd like to leave you with a little piece of advice. If you love her and she loves you, and if it truly is love, then forgiveness and sincerity will bring peace and happiness again._" And with that said, Nebula faded away until she was gone.

* * *

Over at Karakura High School, Ichigo and his friends were just getting out of their final class of the day. "Finally…" the orange haired teenager muttered as he picked up a few things from his locker. When he was done, he closed his locker and made his way over to a certain raven haired, petite soul reaper woman. "Oi, Rukia," he spoke up. "You ready to go?"

"Yep. Let's go, Ichigo," she piped up in a happy, exited tone of voice. The two of them walked out of the school together, waving and saying goodbye to their friends along the way, and started the trek towards the Kurosaki family home. As they were walking along, there was a certain amount of idle conversation between the two of them, although Ichigo wasn't quite as talkative as his companion. "What's the matter with you?" Rukia asked. "You're all scowling and angry. You aren't scared that I'll reveal your cousin's secret, are you? Because I did promise not to tell ANYONE."

"It's not that."

"Is it about what happened at lunch then?"

Ichigo nodded in confirmation at this. "Whether she meant it or not, Rangiku drove a wedge right between my cousin and Raven." The sudden and unexpected sensation of an unknown spiritual pressure in the air forestalled whatever comment Rukia was about to make. And although it was some distance from the two of them, they could still tell that it was very powerful. However, it only lasted for a few seconds, before diminishing a little, then disappearing entirely.

"That wasn't a hollow, or a soul reaper," Rukia said. "And Chad and Orihime don't have that kind of spiritual pressure to be felt at this distance." She looked to her orange haired friend, who had a pensive expression on his face. "You don't think it could've been…"

"Maybe…" Ichigo muttered. "You said earlier that it was like his body acted like a special gigai that hides someone's spiritual pressure."

"Yeah, but… assuming that it is him, how could he hide this kind of power, and have it appear and disappear just like that?"

"I don't know. If he comes around later on, we can talk to him about it. But I'm still more concerned about Aizen and his arrancars than my cousin or his friends."

* * *

Over in another end of Karakura, Toshiro, Rangiku and Orihime were going to the latter's house. The appearance of the same spiritual pressure a distance away had them halt in their tracks, the three of them having time to look in the general direction that it was coming from, before it dimmed down and was gone. "What was that?" Orihime asked.

"I don't know," Toshiro answered. "That wasn't a soul reaper, and it definitely wasn't a hollow, but whoever that spiritual pressure came from… to emit this much, they're definitely a force to be reckoned with."

* * *

And in yet another part of town, there was Ikkaku, a bald man dressed in a school uniform with a wooden sword at his belt, and Yumichika, a feminine, vain looking man with colorful feathers on his right eyebrows, who was also dressed in a school uniform. The two soul reapers in gigai raised their heads when they felt the same spiritual pressure as their other companions. "This spiritual pressure…" Yumichika muttered in an apparently interested tone. "To be felt strongly at this distance… it must be quite powerful indeed."

"Then it must belong to someone who's pretty powerful themselves," Ikkaku said with a bit of a grin on his face. "Too bad they didn't keep it up a little longer. Then we could've tried to track down this guy and I might have had a decent fight. Ah well, I'll just have to hope that he shows up again."

* * *

Kisuke and his associates, as well as Ryu and Yoruichi who were with them, looked towards the mystery spiritual pressure, at the same time as Renji, Chad, Shelliane and Raven, and the Titans did the same from their respective ends, all of them intrigued by this. However, they all went back to their own affairs, though none of them put it out of their minds entirely.

* * *

Across the Pacific Ocean, in Gotham City, Batman was prowling around on one of his nocturnal patrols. Earlier in the night, he had stumbled upon a pair of muggers stuck in a net of webbing and dangling from a lamppost not far from the GCPD station. As Gotham's dark knight was standing on a rooftop while looking for potential trouble, listening to police bands at the same time, a lithe figure made its way towards him. "Hey there, big boy," the person called out in a sensuous woman's voice. "Nice night, isn't it?"

"What are you up to, Selina?" Batman asked, turning around to come face to face with none other than Catwoman.

"You're always so serious, bats," she replied in a laid-back tone. "It's not like we did anything wrong."

"What do you mean by 'we'?"

"Why, me and my new friend, of course. Didn't you see the result of her little handiwork earlier? The two crooks she left tied up in a net of web?"

"Where's your friend now?"

"Well, I could tell you… but just giving it away wouldn't be any fun. I need something in return."

"And what would that be?"

"You have to give me a kiss, and a good one too." Batman stared blankly at the woman standing in front of him, as if he couldn't understand what she had just said.

"… Assuming I go along with this, what guarantee is there of you holding up your end?"

"I give you my word that I'll show you to her, provided you keep your end. So what's it gonna be? Are you going to try to figure her out by yourself, or are you going to give in and-" She was interrupted when Batman suddenly closed the gap between them, wrapped his arms around Catwoman's body and pressed his lips against hers. They remained like this for a few passionate seconds, until breaking apart. "Wow. You're not a bad kisser, bats. I didn't think you were really going to cave in."

"Yeah… sure," Batman replied. "Where's your friend?"

"A deal's a deal. Follow me." The two of them leapt across a few rooftops, until they came to a flat building not far from their previous perch. There, a girl who looked to be in her late teens was hanging from the side of a fairly large flag pole. The one in question had short blond hair, a mask like Robin's and was wearing a skin tight dark green suit with shades of lighter green, and a black spider centered on her… developed chest.

"Hey there," the teen greeted them jumping off from the flag pole. "You two enjoying yourselves much?" she added, smirking suggestively at this.

"Who are you?" Batman asked in his usual serious tone of voice. "I haven't seen you before."

"Well, that's cause I'm kinda new at the super-hero gig and all that. As for who I am, you can call me… The Jade Spider!"

* * *

Back in Karakura Town, Shelliane, in her soul reaper form, was flying alongside Raven. True to her word, as they were going along, she started explaining to her about wholes, hollows, soul reapers and so on and so forth, answering the few questions that Raven asked. After a while of this, her Titans' communicator went off, with Beast Boy's voice being heard from the yellow device. She picked it up and talked with her teammate for a moment, the changeling informing her that he and the others had found a nice hotel where they'd gotten a pair of rooms to stay in. The young sorceress stayed on the line with Beast Boy long enough for him to tell her where it was, then hung up shortly after letting him know that she was fine and would join them soon enough. She then put her communicator away and turned her attention towards Shelliane again, but was interrupted when they both felt the sudden and brief appearance of Gale's spiritual pressure, though neither of them knew that it was his.

"What was that?" Raven asked her companion after a moment had passed by.

"I really don't know," Shelliane answered. "I've never felt this kind of spiritual pressure before. It's not a soul reaper or a hollow, and is doesn't feel like a human either. Weird…" Setting it aside, Shelliane lead Raven towards Urahara's shop, which wasn't very far from their current location, telling her a few snippets about her experience in the soul reaper academy.

They stepped down in front of the small looking shop, and walked in through the sliding doors. "Hello, Lieutenant Rhodes," Kisuke greeted with a smile as he saw them.

"Please, Kisuke, you can just call me Shelly."

"And who are you, young lady?" he asked the female titan. "No wait, you must be… Raven, one of the Teen Titans, yes?"

"Yeah," she answered simply.

"Raven, this is Kisuke Urahara, owner of this shop and former captain of squad twelve," Shelliane said. "And the guy next to him is Ryu, fourth seat of squad eleven and a pretty good friend of mine."

"Since it sounds like Shelly spilled the beans about the soul society, I guess that you had an encounter with a hollow, right?" Ryu asked Raven, who nodded at this.

"More like three hollows," Shelliane butt in. "Didn't even last ten seconds, and she crushed them like ants."

'Her spiritual pressure is very impressive,' Kisuke thought to himself. 'Even greater than that of Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy. But there's something strange hidden deep within this girl. Something that feels sort of… dark.' The shop keeper simply decided to set his thoughts aside for latter consideration. "You know… most of your friends actually have actually had encounters with hollows themselves," he said to Raven.

"They did?" she asked, surprised at this.

Kisuke and Ryu took a moment to relate their meeting with the other Titans, and a bit of what Yoruichi had told them about. "Do you know if your other teammate fought a hollow?"

"Him and I beat one earlier today," Raven answered in a simple, not very expressive tone of voice. "It said I had pretty good spiritual pressure, but that he didn't have any."

"Would you happen to know where your friend is now?"

"No," she said simply. "I'd better get going. My friends are waiting for me."

"Wait a moment, if you please." Kisuke then took out one of his yellow wrapper candy bars, as well a bracelet identical to those he'd given to Robin and the others, and gave both items to Raven, explaining to her exactly what they did. Raven took both, popping the candy bar into her mouth, then said goodbye to and walked out of the shop, flying towards the hotel her friends were at.

* * *

After the walk from school, Ichigo and Rukia were now back at the former's house. "Hey, we're home," the orange haired teenager called out as they both walked in. Ichigo looked around as he closed the door behind him, surprised that there was no one else around, but spotting a note on the table which he picked up and read.

_Gone to watch Karin's soccer practice._

_We'll be back in time for dinner._

_Love, Yuzu and DADDY!_

_P.S: If you see Amicus, let him know that he's invited for dinner, and that his friends can come too. We'll bring take out on our way back._

"Yeah, that's if we see him," Ichigo muttered. Having finished reading the note, he crumpled it into a ball of paper and tossed it into the garbage, then walked up to his room, with Rukia following behind. Ichigo sat at his desk, doing a bit of homework, while his raven haired friend was on his bed, tinkering with her soul pager, which anyone else would see as just a regular cell phone. "What're you doing, Rukia?"

"I'm busy contacting the soul society about that mysterious spiritual pressure that flared up earlier," the petite soul reaper woman answered, taking a second to look at her friend. "I'm sending in a report and checking to see if they can tell us anything about it."

"Meh, whatever," Ichigo said dismissively, turning back to his own business. Not too long afterwards, they both turned their heads when they heard the sound of tapping at the window. Ichigo got up and opened the window, looking outside, but was unable to see anything that would be responsible for the noise. Then, quite unexpectedly, an invisible force pushed the orange haired teen onto his bed, making him land on top of Rukia.

"What do you think you're doing?" Rukia asked indignantly, pushing her friend off of herself and onto the floor.

"It wasn't my fault, something pushed me!" he shot back. "And why the hell would I want to get that close to you, midget brat?"

"How should I know that, strawberry? And what do you mean, something pushed you? There's isn't even anything there."

The two of them bickered in an animated manner for a short moment, until they were interrupted when a very deep, mysterious sounding voice spoke up, resounding all around the room at the same time as the window closed itself. "Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki, you have been found guilty of wanting to screw with each other."

"What the hell!" Ichigo cried out, both his and Rukia's faces beet red from embarrassment. "Who are you?"

"I am god," the voice answered. "And I am here to deliver punishment for your sinful desires." A length of transparent rope appeared out of nowhere, one end wrapping itself around Ichigo's wrist, while the other latched itself onto Rukia's.

"What is this thing?" Rukia asked.

Ichigo had a pensive expression on his face for a moment, before he came to a realization. "I think I know what this might be, and who's responsible. Amicus… if this is a joke, I'm not laughing."

"Really?" Gale said in his normal voice as he appeared in the middle of the room, the shadow of a smirk on his face. "That's too bad, because I thought it was rather amusing, at least, from my point of view." Rukia and Ichigo gave him a flat stare at this, silently telling him that they did not find it amusing at all.

"How did you do that trick with your voice?" Ichigo asked after Gale had made the transparent rope disappear. "And how did you become invisible? And WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA WITH PLAYING A DUMB PRANK LIKE THIS!"

"With my powers, I can make my voice sound like anything you can imagine. I can even amplify it enough to make Black Canary jealous. As for being invisible, I just move air so that it reflects light in whatever way I want. It's the same principle as the illusion I was wearing before. That aside, I just wanted something to laugh at, after the stuff that's happened today." Rukia then sat down on the orange haired teen's bed, while Ichigo picked up his chair, muttering a few words under his breath, and Gale created a transparent one with his powers. "Where're Karin, Yuzu and Isshin anyway?"

"Karin's at a soccer practice, and Yuzu and dad went to watch," Ichigo answered. "By the way, you're more than welcome to stay for dinner, and your friends can come over too if they want."

"Speaking of them, how long have you been with the Teen Titans?" Rukia asked.

"Well, if you don't count the times I worked with them before actually becoming a member of the team… I'd say five months." Gale was quiet for a few seconds, thinking of a subtle manner of hinting at the fact that he knew about the Soul Society and their being part of it. "You know, there's a story I heard once, something about Soul Reapers who would guide dead spirits to a world called the Soul Society." Rukia and Ichigo had minor expressions of surprise at this.

"Uh huh…" Rukia muttered. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you get your powers?"

"I was born with them," Gale said, somewhat amused by how the raven haired girl was changing the subject. "I'm pretty sure my powers and unique appearance came from my father, though it's not like I know who or what he was." The winged boy chuckled a bit, although he wasn't really sure why. "Before, I used to think I was half human and half of whatever my dad was. Apparently, I'm not even half human."

"What're you talking about?" Ichigo spoke up.

"I think you know what I'm talking about," he replied. "After all, you have seen her recently enough."

"Seen who?"

"I was trying to be subtle about this, but I guess little hints aren't quite enough." There was a small flash of light around Gale, and then Ichigo and Rukia could see him in his spirit form. The two of them gasped in surprise when they felt the spiritual pressure rolling off of him in waves, recognizing it at the one they'd felt earlier. Gale remained like this for a moment, until reverting back to his usual form. "That obvious enough for you guys?"

The soul reaper and substitute soul reaper remained deathly silent at this, neither one uttering a sound, until Ichigo spoke up a minute later. "Did you really hear a story about the Soul Society and that stuff?"

"No, not really."

"Then how do you know all this?"

Gale then started to tell them about the dead soul at the cemetery, with his and Raven's fight against the hollow, the appearance of Herba, the Forest Spirit, and Gale performing a soul burial on the little girl. From there, he went on about his meeting with Nebula and what she had told him. "I guess that explains how you know so much," Ichigo noted.

"There're still two things don't understand," Rukia said. "When you encountered that hollow, how is it you knew what it was if you'd never seen one before, and how you were able to perform konso if you don't even have a zanpakuto?"

"For the first, it's simply one in a list of things that I just know, but don't know why. As for the second... the only clue I have is when I asked Nebula about my father, she said he had something to do with the soul society. I was kind of hoping that you might be able to tell me something about that."

Rukia then stood up and went to grab a sketchbook and crayons before sitting down again. "All I can think of is an old myth, a children's tale, about four very powerful spirits, one of air, fire, earth and water." The raven haired soul reaper drew four bunnies to illustrate her words, with each having a hairdo to represent one of the four elements. "It says that one day these spirits looked at the world, and decided to create the Soul Society, so that when humans died, they'd have a second chance at life. But like I said, it's just an old myth." Rukia then showed them the four bunnies looking down at the Earth, then waving their arms while brandishing their respective elements, and then looking down at the Soul Society, portrayed by bunnies around a bunch of feudal Japan style houses.

Gale stared at Rukia with a blank look on his face, holding back any comment about how childish her drawings looked. Ichigo, on the other hand, had a reaction opposite to his cousin. "That story would've been better if it weren't for your crappy drawings." Upon hearing this, Rukia threw her sketchbook at the orange haired teen, smacking him in the face. "What the hell!" he exclaimed.

"That's what you get for making fun of my drawings!" the raven haired soul reaper said angrily. "And what's wrong with them anyway?"

"I'd say they look like something a five year old would do, except I'd be insulting every five year old kid in existence," Ichigo shot back heatedly.

"My, my…" Gale muttered as he watched the two of them argue back and forth. He then picked up his communicator when it started to act up. "Yeah?"

"Hey Gale," Robin's voice spoke up on the other end of the line. "Is everything okay?"

"Just dandy. Why do you ask?"

"Well… I thought you were with Raven, but when she arrived at the hotel, you weren't with her and she pretty much went straight to her and Starfire's room. Did anything happen?"

"Nothing I really feel like talking about right now."

"Okay then, if you're sure. Where are you anyway?"

"I'm at my cousin's house right now. By the way, Ichigo said you guys are invited to come for dinner if you want."

"That's nice. Just hold on a second while I tell the others." Gale's communicator was quiet for a moment, as Robin went to relay the invitation to their friends. "Raven and Starfire are looking to have some 'girl time' together, and Cyborg said he had to do a little work on himself, or maybe it was the T-Ship. Anyway, Beast Boy and I are free to head on over."

"Good. Hey, Ichigo," Gale spoke up, interrupting his cousin's argument with Rukia. "Robin said him and Beast Boy can come over for dinner. What time should they get here?"

"Anywhere between thirty minutes and an hour from now should be fine."

Gale then relayed this to the Titans' leader. "You remember how to get here?"

"Don't worry, we'll figure it out. See you later."

* * *

Hueco Mundo, a vast deserted wasteland, with a permanent nighttime sky and little more than lifeless sand as far as the eye could see. This world, apart from the Soul Society and the world of the living, was where hollows lived, when they weren't out hunting for souls to devour. In the middle of this barren desert, there stood a large, domed palace, known as Las Noches. The palace currently served as the center of operations for Sōsuke Aizen, along with Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tōsen, the two other traitorous soul reaper captains. The palace also had many arrancars, hollows who had removed part of their masks to gain soul reaper powers, with the most powerful of them being the espadas.

Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, the sixth espada, a man with spiky blue hair and the remnants of his hollow mask being a jaw shaped attachment at the side of his mouth, was meeting with his fracciónes, lesser arrancars whom he'd picked to serve him. Their masks remnants varied, from a helmet shaped like a hammer head shark, a strange helmet with a partial mask and tip that stretched out to the side, eyeholes that looked like glasses, a skull that covered half the face, and a small helmet with horns. "We'll wait here an hour longer, and then we're leaving for Karakura Town," Grimmjow spoke, keeping his senses alert to be sure no one would overhear. "Make sure you don't get caught. I don't want Aizen to find out about this."

"Find out about what?" someone else's voice spoke up.

Grimmjow spun around in a flash to face the direction the voice had come from. Half standing in the shadows was a man who was obviously an arrancar, given that he had a mask remnant on his head that looked like a tiara with the pointed end downward, a hollow hole just below his neck and a zanpakuto at his belt. He also wore the white jacket, hakama and black sash typical of most arrancars. "Striker," Grimmjow spat out.

"You're planning an attack on Karakura Town, aren't you?"

"And what're you going to do about it?"

"Well, for one, I could report you to Aizen, or even beat you down here and now."

"Tsk, as if you could. You're not an espada, you don't even have a rank."

"Aizen didn't give me a rank because I don't need one. I was a Vasto Lordes class hollow before becoming an arrancar, and besides, I have more than enough power to-" Striker stopped mid-speech when Grimmjow vanished and re-appeared in front of him. The blue haired arrancar threw a hard punch at the shadowed man, only to have him effortlessly block it with the palm of his hand. Holding him there, Striker then raised his other hand and flicked his finger, lifting Grimmjow off his feet and making him crash into the wall.

"Any of you stupid enough to try their luck?" he asked the five lesser arrancars, who merely stood there silently, shocked at the ridiculous ease with which their master had been sent flying. "Didn't think so."

"What do you want then?" Grimmjow asked as he shakily got to his feet.

"I know you're going to Karakura Town. I'm bored, and tired of sticking around in this dump called Las Noches. So after hearing your intentions, I figured I'd go out too and have a little fun. Now, you can either accept that I'm coming along, or you can be stupid again and try to fight me, not that it'll do you any good. So what's it going to be?"

"Come along if you want," Grimmjow said. "Just stay out of my way once we get there."

The arrancar, apparently named Striker, stepped out of the shadows. A black skull face could be seen on his mask remnant. That aside, he had bleached white hair and eyes that were entirely black. A dark, malevolent aura flared around his head as he grinned in an evil way. "So long as you stay out of mine."

* * *

Back in Karakura Town, Robin and Beast Boy were now walking on the streets, making their way towards Ichigo's house. The former was dressed in his civilian outfit, while Beast Boy was wearing his holo-watch, which projected the same holographic disguise as usual. "So… what do you think happened between Amicus and Rebecca?" Beast Boy asked, remembering to not use their hero names, since he was currently in disguise.

"I don't know," Robin answered. "Rebecca hasn't said anything, and when I called Amicus earlier, he didn't want to talk about it either. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that they had an argument of some sort."

"That's too bad," Beast boy commented. "They looked like they got along so well, and even had a thing going on between them." The two teens continued walking along towards the Kurosaki household in silence. However, after a while, Beast Boy happened to catch a certain smell, at the same time as Robin could sense a presence in the air that felt somewhat familiar.

The two of them stopped in their tracks and looked around, though they saw nothing out of the ordinary. "What is this?" Robin muttered. "It feels familiar, but I don't recognize it."

"Don't think it's a hollow," Beast Boy whispered to his friend. "I remember the one Cyborg and I went up against smelled sort of… darkish, but this is different. Do you think it's a soul reaper?"

"That must be it. Ryu's spirit energy felt different, but still somewhat similar to this one." They both focused their senses as best they could, then turned their heads up, seeing a white haired boy dressed in a black outfit and white haori who was standing on the roof of a building, looking down at them with interest. The boy was a little surprised to see the two teens looking back at him, more so when Beast Boy waved his hand at him, and Robin nodded in his direction. They then resumed their trek towards Ichigo's house, leaving the short, white haired soul reaper behind, and eventually losing track of his spirit energy.

After a while, the two teens finally arrived at their intended destination. Robin knocked at the door, and backed up a little, remembering Isshin's greeting from when they'd come here in the morning, although this time, it was Karin who answered the door. "Hey, come on in," she said to them, stepping aside so that they could walk in, and closing the door behind them.

Once inside, they could see Isshin and Yuzu who had finished setting up the table. "Good, you accepted our invitation," he noted. "Just wait here and I'll go get the others." They all waited as Isshin went up the stairs to Ichigo's room. Less than a minute later, there was the sound of something crashing to the floor, followed by Ichigo saying a few words in annoyance, before he came back down with Rukia, Gale and Isshin, who was walking a little unsteadily.

"What happened?" Karin asked, rolling her eyes.

"Dad had the bright idea of sneaking up on Amicus and trying to attack him from behind," the orange haired teen said sarcastically, shooting his father an annoyed look.

"I just wanted to see if little Amicus had the same kind of reflexes as Ichigo," Isshin said, attempting to look innocent, which did little to convince anyone.

"He's way crazy," Beast Boy muttered under his breath.

"You're telling me," Robin whispered back.

"You're lucky you didn't manage to surprise me," Gale said to his uncle. "Or else I might have blasted you through a wall, instead of just knocking you down. And by the way, I've grown a fair bit in the past seven years."

"But you'll always be little Amicus to me."

"So… maybe we could eat now?" Rukia suggested, motioning towards the table, specifically the two large pizzas and platter of sushi.

* * *

Elsewhere, Raven and Starfire, both in their uniforms, had left their hotel room to go outside. As they were flying along through the early evening sky, they talked about stuff that had happened since they'd separated after leaving Ichigo's house, which included the fights against their respective hollows. "Friend Raven," Starfire spoke up as they landed on top of a building. "Please, I wish to know, why were you not with Gale when you arrived in our hotel room? Has something happened between you both?"

The teenage sorceress sighed at this. She then proceeded to tell her friend about what had happened when she and Gale had gone to Karakura High school to see Ichigo and his friends. She spoke of how Rangiku had been hitting on Gale, who didn't quite seem to notice it, how annoyed she had been by this, and the argument that had ensued. "And that's how it happened."

Starfire remained quiet for a moment, mulling over her friends words. "Raven," she spoke softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Do you care for him?"

Raven looked at the alien girl with confusion. "What?"

"You said you were annoyed at seeing another woman 'make the move' on him. Also, you seemed sad when you spoke of him saying that the two of you were only friends, and nothing more. I know the pain you feel, and I believe it hurts like this because you truly do care for him."

Raven had a surprised look on her face at this. "How…"

"I have felt the same way with Robin, and I know how you must feel now. I am certain friend Gale cares for you as you do for him, and that if you speak to each other, your heart will be at peace again."

The young sorceress said nothing for a while, merely going over Starfire's words in her head. "I think… you may be right."

* * *

"All of a sudden, Cyborg pulled apart those robot copies and rebuilt himself like magic, and then he just kicked his butt like it was nothing, and after he's done beating him up, he's standing over him and he's like 'Booyah'," Beast Boy said, recounting Cyborg's final fight against Brother Blood atop of Titans East tower.

"Cool," Karin commented.

"So, who's your least favorite villain?" Isshin asked.

"Mad Mod," the three Titans answered simultaneously.

"Who's that?" Yuzu inquired.

"An old man and a certifiable nut job with an obsession for England and brainwashing," Gale answered.

"Doesn't really sound like much," Ichigo noted.

"The last time, he brainwashed almost everyone into believing that the US was still a British colony, took over the city and made it look like London, not to mention that he was able to use his weird cane to make himself young again, at the cost of making me old," Robin said. "That aside, he's really annoying, and he always gets Beast Boy with his swirling hypno screens."

"Hey!" the changeling protested.

"How do you fight, if you don't have any powers?" Rukia spoke up.

"I've got three things. Extensive martial arts training, a utility belt full of gadgets, and the best weapon of all, right here," Robin said, tapping his forehead.

"Who's the toughest villain you guys have faced yet?" Karin inquired.

"Well… we fought a dragon once," Beast Boy said, surprising everyone but his teammates.

"A dragon?" Yuzu asked. "Really?"

"Yeah, in fact…" Gale held out his hand and concentrated with his powers, creating a mini illusion of the dragon Malchior in the palm of his hand, to show them what one of their most fearsome adversaries to date had looked like.

"That's so cool!" Isshin exclaimed in a childish, excited way. "You guys must have been really tough and brave to take on something like this."

The Titans' leader shrugged at this. "It was either him or us. In any case, Raven beat him when she did a spell of some kind that trapped him inside a magic book." He then cast a glance at a clock, then looked at the window, seeing that it was getting late outside. "Hey guys, maybe we should head back now," he said to his friends.

"I guess it is getting late," Beast Boy remarked. "Oh well, nice meeting you all again."

Gale then closed his open hand, dismissing the mini illusion of Malchior. "Assuming our vacation isn't cut short for some reason, I'll probably come back around tomorrow."

"Till next time," Karin said.

"You be careful out there," Yuzu piped up.

"Goodbye," Rukia added.

"Come back soon," Isshin pitched in.

Ichigo simply grasped his cousin's hand and shook it firmly. "See ya around, Amicus." And with the goodbyes all said and done, Robin, Gale and Beast Boy stepped out the door and onto the streets.

* * *

Back in Hueco Mundo, Grimmjow was about to go off in secret to attack Karakura Town. The sexta espada had gathered his fracciones and was currently waiting for Striker to show up. Despite his usually volatile temper and impatience, Grimmjow had a feeling it would be best not to cross the unranked arrancar, especially considering how easily he had manhandled him. Fortunately, it did not take Striker long to show up, although when he did, he was accompanied by seven other arrancars. "Who're they?" the blue haired espada asked bluntly.

"They're my fracciones," Striker answered. "My power puts me on par with Aizen's most powerful, and therefore I get certain privileges usually reserved for espadas."

"What do you need them for, if you're already so powerful by yourself?"

"I use them to hunt, Grimmjow. If they find someone strong enough to fight, or even kill them, then I go in to fight whoever they found. That way I don't have to waste my time with petty weaklings. I believe that's something you prefer to avoid as well, no?"

"Tsk, whatever. Bring your fracciones if you want, see if I care. Let's just get going."

* * *

Once again in Karakura Town, Cyborg was walking down the streets by himself. The cybernetic teenager was coming back from the town's outskirts where the T-Ship was stationed, having finished with whatever tinkering he'd wanted to do on it. As he was walking along, his attention was caught by an ordinary looking house, where he happened to see Ryu standing just outside. "Hey," he called out to the soul reaper, waving at him.

"Hey," Ryu replied, waving back.

The door then opened, and Shelliane poked her head outside. "Ryu, you'd better not be trying to get out of doing the dishes," she said to her fellow soul reaper.

"No, of course not," he said quickly. "I'd never dream of doing something like that. I was just… waiting outside for a moment."

Shelliane rolled her eyes at this, then took notice of Cyborg, who was looking at her with surprise on his face. "Hello, you must one of the Teen Titans. Cyborg, is it? I've heard about you. My name's Shelliane, but you can just call me Shelly."

'Gale did say his mom had a twin sister,' Cyborg thought to himself. 'That explains the resemblance, but why am I getting the same kind of feeling from her that I'm getting from Ryu? Unless…' Cyborg cleared his throat, addressing his friend's aunt. "Yeah, I'm Cyborg alright."

"Nice meeting you. Why don't you come on in?" she proposed.

"Well, I was just planning to head back to the hotel my friends and I are staying at."

"Come now, surely you have a few minutes to spare, don't you?" Shelliane insisted in a sweet tone, smiling at him.

"Err… okay then." The three of them then walked inside, and went to the kitchen, where Ryu promptly made his way to the sink in order to start cleaning the dishes, not wanting to give his friend any reason to reprimand him. "There's something I'd like to ask," Cyborg spoke to Shelliane as they both sat down at the table. "Are you a soul reaper?"

"Yes I am," she answered smoothly. "I heard from Kisuke and Ryu about you and your friends having encountered hollows, and having been given the run over about the Soul Society. However, I'm curious as to how you knew about my being a soul reaper."

"Well, I felt the same kind of… spiritual pressure, I think it is, from you that I did from Ryu. So I figured that since he's a soul reaper, it would make sense if you were one too."

"You're a fast learner," she noted. "Tell me, do you know where my nephew is? I haven't seen him in quite a while."

"You mean Amicus, right?" Shelliane nodded in confirmation. "Robin and Beast Boy were supposed to join him at Ichigo's house for dinner, but that was a while ago. You might still-" The sudden appearance of a mass of spiritual pressure interrupted the cybernetic teen. Ryu quickly pulled out his soul pager, almost dropping the plate he'd been drying off. "What is this?"

"Arrancars," the blue haired man answered. "Hollows with soul reaper powers," he added for Cyborg's benefit. "There're at least a dozen of them. They almost look like they're… just going after anyone with the smallest amount of spiritual pressure."

"Gotta run!" Cyborg said.

"Wait!" Shelliane called out to him as he dashed out the door, putting on the bracelet that Kisuke had given him. "Bugger!" she swore, pulling out her pez-dispenser and swallowing the green pill at the same time as Ryu swallowed his own, the two of them bursting out of their respective gigais. "Let's get a move on!"

* * *

All around Karakura Town, the members of the soul reaper taskforce, along with Ichigo, jumped from their gigais, going out to meet the horde of arrancars. Over at their end, Raven and Starfire raised their heads, sensing the incoming enemies. "Something dark is coming towards us," the young sorceress declared, looking in a particular direction, her powers granting her greater sensitivity than her friend in regard to such things. Not long after the two female titans had put Kisuke's bracelets on their wrists, a pair of arrancars appeared from the direction Raven had been looking at, standing in mid-air a short distance from them.

The two arrancars almost looked like mirror images of one another, with their looks, white garb, and a sword strapped across their backs. One had the hilt of his sword hanging over his right shoulder, a hollow hole near his left, a six pointed black star on his right cheek and a mask remnant that looked like a faceless helmet with a line that ran down his nose and across his left cheek. The other had his sword's hilt poking over his left shoulder, hollow hole near his right, a twelve pointed black star on his left cheek and identical mask remnant, except that the line ran across his right cheek. "Well, this isn't entirely what I expected to find," one of them spoke up.

"They look normal enough, but they've got pretty good spiritual pressure," the other commented.

"Who are you?" Raven demanded, her tone serious, black energy covering her hands.

"My name is Lycan," the one with the six pointed star said.

"And I'm Nacyl."

"What do you want?" Starfire asked, a starbolt in each hand.

In response, Nacyl suddenly dashed towards the alien girl with impressive speed. Starfire raised her hands and just caught his outstretched fist, though she was still surprised at the strength of his punch. At the same time, Lycan vanished and re-appeared behind Raven, swinging his sword at her exposed back. Fortunately for her, she was able to sense him in time to erect a barrier, which stood fast against his blade. "You're pretty strong," Nacyl commented. "So what's your name?"

"I am Starfire, from Tamaran."

"Never heard of it."

"Nor will you hear of it again," she shot back, throwing a punch with her free hand that caught him in the chest, pushing him back a little.

"Your friend is an interesting case," Lycan noted as he and Raven disengaged, putting some distance between each other. "And who are you, girl?"

"What do you care?"

"I don't. I just want to know the name of the person I'm going to kill."

"It's Raven. And you're the one who's going down."

* * *

Cyborg ran down the street as fast as he could, intent on reaching Raven and Starfire, who were closest to his location. However, as he was running, a warning light went off in his head, prompting him to dive off to the side, something crashing down where he'd been less than a second ago. He rolled over and jumped to his feet, only to drop down in order to avoid a sword that would have otherwise decapitated him. The cybernetic teenager lashed out with an uppercut that caught the swordsman in the chin, putting him onto a colliding course with the first attacker. However, a third one came up before Cyborg and landed a palm strike to his chest, lifting him off his feet and making him crash into a lamppost that folded under the impact.

"That didn't feel good," he muttered, extracting himself from the bent lamppost. He then looked up to see three arrancars, one woman and two men, who were obviously his attackers. One was bald, tall and lean, holding his sword in one hand, with a devil like mask remnant that covered most of his face, safe for his eyes, and with horns sticking upward. The second had dull gray hair, a mask remnant that looked like a mantis' face sitting atop his head and was big and muscular. The female arrancar, who'd been the one to hit Cyborg, was shorter, but apparently powerful, with blond hair, her hollow hole hidden, and her mask being a cat like helmet that covered the left side of her head.

"You poor little baby," the female arrancar cooed in a mocking tone. "Did I hurt you that bad?"

"You should've just stood still and let us finish you," the mantis masked arrancar said. "It would've been quick and painless."

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you guys are arrancars," Cyborg spoke up, eyeing them warily.

"Yeah, now it's time for you to die," the third one taunted. However, just as the words came out of his mouth, a crimson spear head sudden zoomed past Cyborg, giving the devil mask arrancar a cut on the side of his neck, at the same time as a ray of electric blue light nearly blew a hole in the female arrancar's head. Taking advantage of this, Cyborg quickly shifted his arm into his sonic cannon and fired a blast at the remaining arrancar, hitting him straight in the chest.

Ryu and Shelliane then dropped down next to Cyborg, both of them in their soul reaper forms. The blue haired man was now holding a double bladed crimson spear with a black metal shaft. As for Gale's aunt, instead of her sword, she had a pair of tiger paw gauntlets that went up to her elbows. "Hey there," Ryu said. "Hope you don't mind us joining the party."

"Don't mind one bit," he replied, relieved to see the two soul reapers.

"So, I see you've got a pair of soul reaper friends to help you," the female arrancar noted. "This should be fun."

"Don't count on it, Blondie," Shelliane said.

"It's Chihiro, you stupid bitch!" she exclaimed.

"And I'm Shelliane Rhodes, squad thirteen's lieutenant."

"Kareem, Teika," Chihiro addressed the two other arrancars. "Take care of the tin man and the one with blue hair. This bitch is mine." She drew her sword and zoomed towards Shelliane, the two of them fighting it out by themselves.

Kareem, the bigger, muscular arrancar, lunged at Cyborg, grappling with the cybernetic teen, while Teika crossed blades with Ryu. "The name's Ryu Yamada, fourth seat of squad eleven," the blue haired soul reaper introduced himself as they fought. "I'll be the one who's going to beat your ass."

"So what's your name, tin man?" Kareem asked, hands locked with his opponent's.

"It's Cyborg," he answered, mustering his strength. "And I hope you're hungry…" Cyborg then dropped down, rolling on his back and using the momentum to throw Kareem into a brick wall. "because I've got a case of canned butt whoop with your name on it."

* * *

After having put a reasonable distance between themselves and Ichigo's house, the three boys had slipped into an alley, where Robin had pulled off his civilian disguise, Gale had removed the illusion from himself, and Beast Boy had taken off his holo-watch. That done, they decided to walk to the hotel, as opposed to flying and having to carry Robin with them. As they were walking along, they also felt the mass of spiritual pressure emitted by the invading arrancars. "Uh oh, this can't be good," Beast Boy noted.

"Something's coming," Gale announced, his eagle eyes catching sight of two figures heading towards them from a distance. Robin and Beast Boy quickly slipped on their bracelets, while Gale simply stood there waiting. Mere moments later, a pair of arrancars appeared, standing in mid-air before them. The first had dark hair, a crooked nose, and a skull face mask sitting atop his head, while the second was taller, had green hair, and a mask remnant in the form of an 'X' that ran over his face.

"This is a funny collection we've stumbled across," the skull masked arrancar commented.

"Like you're one to talk," Beast Boy shot back.

"The green kid and the boy in the red suit have pretty good spiritual pressure," the other one noted, ignoring Beast Boy's words. "But their friend doesn't appear to have any."

Gale then changed into his spirit form, surprising his friends and the two arrancars with the spiritual pressure he was emitting. "I'm sorry, what was that you were saying?" he asked in a slightly mocking tone, materializing his sword of air in one hand.

"Aren't you just full of surprises?" arrancar X said. "You may even be powerful enough to catch our master's interest."

"Who's this master you're talking about?" Robin demanded, pulling out a bo-staff from his belt and extending it to full length.

"If you manage to fight well enough, you may yet find out," skull face replied. "Now come on, Xabat," he said to the other arrancar. "Let's get em."

"You got it, Mandragore." The two arrancars pulled out their swords and charged at the Titans. Beast Boy quickly transformed into a Triceratops, blocking Xabat's blade with his shield like skull, while Gale's sword clashed with Mandragore's zanpakuto.

Xabat vanished and re-appeared behind Beast Boy, who instinctively changed into a gnat, dodging his opponent's weapon. He turned into a gorilla, coming down at him with a double handed blow, only to miss and hit the pavement. He then made a grab for Xabat's hand, stopping his incoming sword, but was struck by a hard punch to the face. The changeling dodged the next swing when he shifted to a python, wrapped himself around his enemy's legs and tripped him, following up by quickly changing into a gorilla again and punting him like a football, though he was able to flip around and land on his feet.

While this happened, Robin made a stab at Mandragore's face, who moved his head to the side and jumped back. The two Titans attacked in tandem, but as they charged, the arrancar put both hands to his sword hilt and pulled in opposite directions, coming up with an identical blade in each hand, allowing him to block both Gale's sword and Robin's staff. Giving each other a barely perceptible nod, they both pushed hard against the arrancar, driving him back a little, with Gale shooting out a gust of wind to push him further back. He then flew forward fast, doing a mid-air roll, dodging the arrancar's swords and passing by him. The winged boy promptly swung his sword when he came up behind his enemy, sending out a blade of air towards him. Mandragore managed to raise his weapons in time to block the attack, which turned out to be a distraction, allowing Robin to throw a pair of explosive disks, hitting him in the back with pinpoint accuracy.

When the smoke cleared, Mandragore was standing straight, but had still taken a little damage. "Not bad, boys," he said, chuckling a little in amusement. "Now let's continue, shall we?"

* * *

A certain distance from all the fighting, Grimmjow and Striker were standing in mid-air, at the point where they'd come into the world of the living. "Well, this is certainly interesting," Striker muttered when Gale's spiritual pressure suddenly appeared. "It seems like Xabat and Mandragore may have bitten off more than they can chew."

"Whoever this is, they must be powerful," Grimmjow noted. The sixth espada was about to go off towards where Gale, Robin and Beast Boy were fighting, but was held back by Striker's hand.

"I'll take this one," the white haired arrancar said.

"I thought I told you to stay out of my way, Striker," Grimmjow spat out.

"And I told you to stay out of mine," he replied. "So go chase after another one, or else…" Grimmjow growled menacingly, but still backed down nonetheless. "Smart move," Striker said, dashing off towards the three boys.

* * *

Back at their end, Robin, Beast Boy and Gale were holding their own against their enemies, despite the arrancars' speed and power. At the moment, Beast Boy and Robin were fighting Mandragore, while Gale was going one on one with Xabat.

Mandragore swung one of his swords at Robin's head, while the other streaked towards his legs. The Boy Wonder ducked under the first, while blocking the second with his staff. He was then kicked him in the chest sent flying back, though he stabbed his staff down and landed on his feet. In the form of a gorilla, Beast Boy uprooted a lamppost and hurled it as hard as he could at his enemy, who flashed his swords and sliced it into pieces. However, immediately after throwing his improvised projectile, the changeling became a cheetah and ran towards him as fast as possible, shifting into a rhino when he came close. Some of the speed he'd built up in his dash as a cheetah carried on through the transformation, allowing him to slam his front horn into the dual sword wielding arrancar with even greater force than his now massive weight afforded him. The sheer power behind this move picked Mandragore clean off his feet and sent him flying a good distance away.

Meanwhile, Xabat swung his sword with ferocity at Gale, who opted for a more defensive stance, blocking his opponent's blows, taking only a few tiny, insignificant cuts. With their blades locked together, Xabat lashed out with a kick, which Gale blocked with his forearm, although it still hit hard enough to push him back. Robin then dove in, putting all his training with the True Master to good use. He first successfully lashed out with his staff, then avoided a sword strike by jumping upward, despite Xabat using his speed to appear behind him, and sprung off the top of his staff, which bent back and smashed into the arrancar's face. Still in mid-air, the Boy Wonder threw an explosive disk, which knocked Xabat off his feet. The X masked arrancar flew back a little towards Gale, who swung his sword in an underhanded motion. A fairly large blade of air arced from his sword, slamming into him hard enough to throw him high up into the sky.

As Mandragore was charging back towards the three Titans with impressive speed, Gale conjured and shot out a flurry of spikes of air, all of which were avoided or deflected. While this happened, Beast Boy charged out as a triceratops to meet him. However, the enraged arrancar simply sprung off his head and gave him a few quick cuts on the back as he was sailing over him. Just as he landed, Gale threw his sword at him and Robin fired off his grappling hook, which wrapped itself around its target. However, Mandragore was able to break free from his bindings. "Did you really think your green friend could distract me that easy?"

"That's the thing," Robin answered. "He wasn't the distraction, that's us."

"Wha-" Mandragore dropped his head, seeing that a particularly deadly green snake had bitten him in the ankle, pumping its lethal venom into his system. "Impossible…" he muttered, dropping his swords and falling to his knees, his bodily functions already affected by the poison. With a flick of his powers, Gale brought his sword back into his hand, walking over to the dying arrancar as Beast Boy regained his normal form and Robin picked up his staff. Then, without words, he brought his blade down and dealt the finishing blow, their enemy's body fading away a few seconds later.

The three of them turned around right after, seeing Xabat slamming into the pavement, looking beaten up, but still ready to fight. "So, still think you can take us?" Robin asked, his tone serious.

Before Xabat could answer, he was cut off by the appearance of a powerful spiritual pressure. They all looked around to see where it was coming from, and saw Striker standing up high in mid-air. "Master," Xabat said, falling to one knee.

"Looks like you're having a bit of trouble here," he remarked, his gaze going over Robin, Beast Boy, and finally settling on Gale. "Hello, boy," he addressed the winged titan.

Gale's eyes displayed cold anger, while his hand held his transparent sword with an iron grip, his body shaking a littlein rage. "You… You're the one who killed my mother!" Robin and Beast Boy had twin expressions of shock at this revelation.

"So you do remember me. It's been so long, I was afraid you might have forgotten." Striker chuckled in a malefic, evil way. "I never thought I'd have the chance to cross you again. But now I can finish what I started seven years ago."

"Guys," Gale spoke up, his eyes fixed on his mother's murderer. "I need you to stay here and deal with Xabat. This one's mine."

"But we should work together as a team," Beast Boy protested.

"This is my fight. Please, don't interfere."

"Alright then," Robin said. "Just be careful."

Gale then spread his wings, crouched his legs and jumped, him and Striker flying up into the air above the buildings that surrounded them. "Now it's just you and me, boy."

"I swear, by my mother's name, I will kill you," Gale declared in an unwavering voice, sword held high.

"Bring it on," Striker taunted, both combatants' spiritual pressure flaring as they charged, with intent to kill.

* * *

So, I finally finished with the chapter. However, as you can guess, there will obviously be a part 3 coming up afterwards (which should be the last part of the Titans in Karakura Town segment). Anyway, please review, because it will make me pretty happy.

Gale fights to avenge his mother in the next chapter, but Striker proves to be difficult.


	24. Heroes, Hollows and Soul Reapers Part 3

**Disclaimer: I checked it out again, just to be sure, and I don't own the Teen Titans, or Bleach either.**

So it turns out that in fact I will be making four parts for this segment, instead of three. This chapter is officially my longest yet, and contains over 90% action, just to you know.

I forgot at first, but I'd like to thank AVP5, without whom this chapter would've been much more difficult.

Enjoy!

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Heroes, Hollows and Soul Reapers – Part 3**

Violent winds of unforeseen proportions blew through the night time sky in Karakura Town. The people who were outside that time found themselves shuddering at the sudden appearance of such tempest winds, hurrying along to wherever they were headed to, ignorant of the true power behind such an impressive force of nature. However, there were certain individuals out and about who were spiritually aware enough to decipher that this was not a mere freak storm. Prominent amongst these people were the members of the soul reaper taskforce, who were, with only two exceptions, locked in combat with various arrancars.

After its sudden and powerful appearance, the stormy squall subsided a little, although spiritual pressure was still hanging heavy in the air, a good chunk of which was emitted by a raging battle between two particular combatants in the sky. With the howling winds being lessened, it was easier to hear the sounds of their ferocious fight, which trumped that of the other battles going on at the same time. If one were to get close enough, they would be able to see that one of them was dressed in black, with white wings sticking out of his back, and was wielding a transparent sword, while the other was dressed in white, and had a sword at his side, but was fighting unarmed.

Away from this fight, Ichigo Kurosaki was fighting against the sixth espada, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, who moments ago, had stabbed Rukia in the stomach with his hand, taking her out of the fight. Currently, the substitute soul reaper had released his sword's bankai, which was a soul reaper's zanpakuto's most powerful form. In bankai, his sword Zangetsu was a sleek, black blade, with a small chain dangling from the hilt.

Although Ichigo had been able to sense Gale's spiritual pressure for some time, and had felt the near cataclysmic winds, it was only until a break in the fight between himself and Grimmjow that he could feel the full force of his cousin's current level of spiritual pressure, as well as that of his opponent. His eyes widened a little, but he was suddenly forced to use his high speed to move out of the way as Grimmjow came at him with a hard punch, putting some distance between him and the blood thirsty arrancar. 'Won't do him any good if I get myself killed,' Ichigo thought to himself. 'Sorry Amicus, but I can't help you right now. All I can do is hope that you're alright.'

* * *

Over at their end, Raven and Starfire were locked in battle with the two arrancars that had come after them. Raven had Lycan as her opponent, while Starfire was fighting against Nacyl. Despite being initially surprised by enemy's power, the alien girl was still able to use her natural Tamaranian strength to match his own. And although his speed gave her a bit of trouble, she was nevertheless able to keep up with him just enough to fight on even terms. As for the young sorceress, her own powers let her sense her enemy's movements rather well, which was a big asset for keeping track of him when he would use his high speed. And even though his power and swordsmanship were nothing to laugh at, her black energy powers still held strong against him when they clashed.

Raven stood at the ready on the rooftop of the building, while the arrancar came charging at her, waiting until he came across a patch of shadow, at which a black clawed hand quickly caught his ankle, causing him to fall down face first. She then extended her hand and lashed out with a razor sharp blade of darkness, but he managed to cut through his restraint with his sword and roll out of the way just in time, Raven's attack passing so close that it cut a little into his shoulder. Following that, Lycan quickly sprung to his feet and used his speed to appear a few feet above her. Sensing his sudden movement, Raven quickly phased through the rooftop, coming up at the other end of the building, his sword crashing down at her previous position.

Lycan stood there for a moment, reaching behind to touch his shoulder which was bleeding a little. "Well, well," he muttered, seemingly interested by the bit of red blood coating his hand. "It looks like you can cut me. I think I'm going to enjoy this."

"Yeah, I aim to please," the young sorceress shot back sarcastically, before the two of them flew up into the air to resume their fight.

At the same time, Starfire was already flying in the air, fighting against Nacyl. The arrancar in question had not yet drawn his sword, but proved to be well versed in unarmed combat. As they were fighting, Nacyl reached out with both hands, effectively halting the alien girl's hard punch, albeit with a certain amount of effort. In response, Starfire aimed a punch at the arrancar's face with her left arm, which he dodged by moving his head to the side. He then pulled on her arm and threw her behind him, lashing out with a kick that caught her right in the stomach. Falling back freely a little, Starfire righted herself in time to see her opponent coming straight at her with his fist pulled back. Reacting instinctively, she hurled an impressive barrage of starbolts at him, and although he ducked and weaved his way around them, one still clipped him in the side, causing him to stumble and have another smash right into his face.

Nacyl simply stopped in his tracks at this, standing still in mid-air and running a hand over his face, feeling the scorch marks the alien girl's starbolt had left, as well as his mask remnant which had been chipped, losing the line that ran down his nose and across his cheek. "You're even better than I'd thought, Starfire of Tamaran," he said, apparently pleased that she'd been able to inflict damage on him. "I can tell this is going to be fun."

"I assure you, this will not be a pleasant experience for you, evil hollow creature."

"I may have been a hollow once, but I've long since evolved into an arrancar. I am the 43rd arrancar in Sosuke Aizen's army and one of Master Striker's fracciones. I am more powerful than a mere-" Nacyl was interrupted when Starfire flung another starbolt at him, prompting him to dodge it, but only by a tiny margin.

"As the humans of this world would say… you talk too much."

Nacyl smirked a little at this. "Well, aren't you a vicious little thing? So why don't we just continue this little skirmish?" The two of them then flew straight at each other, clashing in a burst of spiritual pressure.

* * *

Cyborg grunted as he crashed into the ground after getting thrown by his opponent. The cybernetic teen had been having a bit more trouble against Kareem than the other Titans against their own enemies. However, despite taking a bit of a beating, Cyborg was able to keep up with the large arrancar by using whatever trickery and skills he possessed, along with the augmented strength his mechanical limbs afforded him. And while there were two other arrancars, they had their hands full dealing with Ryu and Shelliane, leaving Cyborg free to fight his own opponent one on one.

The cybernetic teenager lay flat on his back, until Kareem decided to jump high into the air and come down at him with a falling kick. Cyborg waited until he was close enough, and then one of his shoulders opened up, shooting out a small rocket that exploded against the incoming arrancar, throwing him off course, causing him to crash into the pavement. Cyborg quickly jumped up and charged at his enemy, who was just getting to his feet, throwing a hard punch, only to have his opponent reach out and grab his wrist, holding his arm in place.

Thinking creatively, Cyborg opened up one of his fingers, a small torch coming out of the tip. This he pressed down against the arrancar's wrist and put in a burst of power, burning him severely enough that he let go in pain. He did not have much time to nurse his little injury, for the half metal teen then lashed out with a fierce blow, burying his fist in Kareem's stomach. He then connected with a powerful uppercut that picked him up off his feet, sending him flying into the air. Cyborg picked up the ruined lamppost he had crashed into earlier and held it at the ready like a baseball player. As his opponent fell back down, he swung with all the strength he could muster, smacking the arrancar as if he were a ball, batting him a good distance away.

A scan with his robotic eye, along with what talents for sensing spiritual pressure he currently had, revealed to him that his adversary was not yet down for the count, further proven when the small pile of rubble where he'd crashed began to shift, and Kareem extracted himself from it. 'Man, this guy is tough,' Cyborg thought to himself, seeing him get up despite being a little beaten himself. 'Guess I'll just have to keep beating on him even longer.'

"Not bad, tin man," Kareem spoke up, walking down the street towards the robotic Teen Titan. "Despite your spiritual pressure, I must admit I didn't quite expect you to put up this much of a fight."

"There's more where that came from," Cyborg shot back, though still keeping his guard up.

"Oh, I believe you. But for your own sake, you'd better not hold back, because I'm just getting warmed up." Kareem suddenly dashed forward at high speed, dodging around the lamppost that Cyborg threw at him, and lashing out with a punch which was blocked, as well and the other one, but connecting with a kick to the stomach. Cyborg flew back a ways, although he was still able to get a grip on the pavement and flip to his feet, sliding back a little.

"Don't worry, because you see …" he said, picking up a fairly large piece of rubble and hurling it at the arrancar, who merely pulled back his fist and smashed through it. However, this was only a distraction, giving the cybernetic teen enough time to charge forward and slug him in the gut, only to miss his target when Kareem used his high speed to re-appear a few feet away, spinning around and kicking him in the back pretty hard, even though he did manage to roll over and come up with his sonic cannon aimed and at the ready. He then fired off a shot, knocking Kareem off his feet and crashing through a newspaper stand. "… I'm not about to hold back."

* * *

Since Gale had taken off to fight Striker one on one, Robin and Beast Boy were left with the job of taking care of Xabat. Despite the fact that they had a numerical advantage, not to mention the beating that their foe had already taken, Xabat proved to be more than a little resilient. Robin was using all the skills acquired through his training with the true master to fight the 'X' masked arrancar, whirling his staff about, and managing to block his zanpakuto effectively. While the Titans' leader kept Xabat's attention on himself, Beast Boy changed into a gorilla and picked up a large handful of pieces of the lamppost Mandragore had cut up earlier.

When Robin blocked one of Xabat's blows, but was forced back by the strength behind it, the green shape-shifter threw the lamppost pieces at the arrancar, who flashed his sword around, deflecting them all. However, as he was doing this, Beast Boy changed into a cheetah, running full speed towards him. Just as he came close, Xabat lashed out with a kick, which he narrowly avoided by shifting to a fly, buzzing between his legs and coming up behind him in the form of a grizzly bear. He swung one of his massive paws, cutting him a little in the back, but when he swung again, Xabat dodged the blow, then planted his foot in the changeling's stomach, spinning around and kicking him hard in the chin.

The arrancar spun again and caught Robin's staff with one hand, his zanpakuto streaking towards the Boy Wonder's head, forcing him to let go and drop in order to avoid being decapitated. Tossing Robin's staff aside, he swung his sword downward, only to have Robin block it with a birdarang in each hand, even though it was putting some strain on him. Being in this situation, the Boy Wonder let himself fall back, causing his opponent to pitch forward a little, and used his legs to push him over his head. He quickly flipped to his feet, throwing his two birdarangs, which were deflected, and another, which Xabat snatched out of mid-air with his free hand, only to have it detonate. However, despite taking a bit of damage from this, the Titans' foe simply picked out a shard of metal from his hand and charged at Robin, but was stopped in his tracks when Beast Boy appeared out of nowhere, likely shifting from a tiny insect, and assumed the form of an Ankylosaurus, his armored hide effectively fending off Xabat's zanpakuto and preventing him from going further.

Quick as he could, Beast Boy swung his club like tail, catching their enemy in the chin and making him fly back a little ways, even though he landed on his feet. "Not bad, I'll admit," Xabat said, spitting out a bit of blood and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. "But don't get any ideas about winning."

"And why wouldn't we?" Robin asked, having had the time to recover his staff.

"Yeah," Beast Boy agreed, having turned back into his regular form. "We may not have spiritual powers, but even without our friend, you're still getting beat up."

Xabat chuckled at this, causing the Titans to frown a little in confusion. He then grabbed his Zanpakuto's hilt with both hands and pulled, ending up with a sword in each hand. That done, he opened his mouth wide, as if yawning, at which a small, dark purple ball of light appeared in front of his mouth, gathering energy and growing bigger in almost no time, until it blasted off, a large beam zooming towards the two Titans. Fortunately, Robin had the foresight to tackle his friend out of the way, the red energy passing so close that it just singed his uniform a little. "You two might not be soul reapers, but I think I'm going to enjoy this nonetheless."

* * *

Up in the sky, Gale was fighting against the man who had tried to kill him years ago, but ended up killing his mother when she chose to sacrifice herself for his sake. The man he had beaten down in cold anger, with awesome powers awakened by his mother's death. The man who, following this, had died when his own powers consumed him, and whose soul had become further corrupted, until becoming a hollow, then evolving until he became an arrancar. The man who, by a string of chance, had found the winged titan in Karakura Town, and was now locked in battle with him. The same cold rage that Gale had felt back then filled him now as he swung his trademark sword of air, determined to kill the former villain now turned arrancar for not only killing his mother, but doing it in such a manner that her soul could not pass on to the soul society. However, despite the powerful rage that currently fueled him, despite his unwavering determination to kill his enemy, Gale was having far more trouble than his last battle against him those seven years and some months ago.

Standing in mid-air in an almost lazy manner, Striker reached out and caught Gale's sword with one hand, then lashed out with a punch to the winged boy's stomach, making him cough up a bit of white blood and forcibly sending him back quite a distance. Concentrating, Gale created a wall of air to stop himself, grabbing onto it and kicking off as hard as he could, swinging his sword at the same time, sending a blade of air at the evil arrancar. Striker stopped the incoming attack with his left forearm, holding it there for a second, and tossed it aside like it was nothing. However, he was then faced with the enraged titan who spun around on himself, creating a powerful whirlwind aimed straight for him.

Striker dove headfirst into the twister, making a beeline for Gale and punching him in the cheek, stopping him instantly. The force of the blow was such that Gale felt like he'd been hit with a sledgehammer, and wondered how his jaw was still intact. But he didn't have much time to ponder on this, for his enemy lashed out with an uppercut, sending him flying upward. Striker then immediately vanished and appeared above him, kicking him in the back, abruptly changing his course so that he was falling down fast. Gale almost crashed into a rooftop, but managed to twist his body around and open his wings wide, pulling up in time to avoid an impromptu landing. He then flew back towards his enemy, conjuring dozens upon dozens of spikes of air and shooting them at Striker. The villainous arrancar merely stood there with a bored look on his face, and when the spikes came hurtling towards him, he half turned his head, punching out and deflecting all the spikes as fast as they were coming.

Gale's sword glowed a little from the power he was putting into it, and kept adding onto, until the very last moment when he was close enough and swung his weapon as hard as he could, a booming explosion resounding when it connected. Seeing the results of this move, Gale's eyes popped open in disbelief. Striker had raised his right hand and was holding the winged titan's sword at bay with a single finger, not even suffering so much as a scratch, despite getting hit with even greater force and power than that which Gale had used to cut through Malchior's seemingly impenetrable hide. Striker waited for a couple of seconds, smirking at the winged boy's shocked expression, then struck with lightning speed, slamming the palm of his hand into Gale's chest, blasting him away. Striker materialized behind him and connected with a kick to his back, sending him in the opposite direction, then vanished again and appeared a few feet ahead, landing a double handed blow that pitched Gale down like an arrow, making him crash into the ground hard.

"Surprised you couldn't cut me?" Striker asked tauntingly. "Many arrancars have an ability called hierro, which grants them armored skin. And mine is highly potent, though I'm sure you must have already realized that. Your pitiful level of power clearly isn't anywhere near close enough to pierce my hierro. Too bad, I was hoping you would've grown more since the last time we fought, that way killing you would be a lot more fun."

"You sick bastard!" Gale spat out, stabbing his sword into the ground and using it to get up.

"You've still got some fight left in you? That's good. Even though you haven't been giving me much of a challenge so far, I might still be able to get at least a little fun out of killing you." Striker laughed a little, motioning for Gale to come at him. "Bring it on, little boy. Come and get me if you can." Even with beating he'd taken so far, Gale still managed to stand straight, albeit with some difficulty. Steeling himself, he kicked off the ground, summoning a gust of wind to blow in his wings, flying up again towards his enemy with resolve.

* * *

Back in his corner of Karakura Town, Cyborg was still managing to hold his own against Kareem, despite everything. At the moment, the cybernetic teen had his hands locked with the arrancar's, each one attempting to overpower the other. Kareem pulled ahead in this particular bout when he jabbed with his knee, hitting Cyborg in the stomach, then threw him over his head, sending him crashing into a wall. The half metal titan pried himself out of the wall and opened up a slot in his shoulder, firing a small rocket that was a little different from his usual arsenal.

The little rocket shot off towards the arrancar, who dodged this by vanishing and re-appearing a few feet to the left of his original position. Cyborg then came charging at him, throwing a hard punch, which Kareem blocked with the palm of one hand, retaliating with the other, hitting hard enough to put a dent in his chest, and send him flying back. "You're good, tin man, and your strength isn't bad either, I'll give you that much. But I still doubt you'll be able to defeat me with the way it's been going so far." Cyborg gave a little confident smirk at this, causing Kareem to frown questioningly. "And what are you so happy about?"

"You may be tough, but you'll get what's coming to you. In fact, you're going to get it right about… now." Just as Cyborg finished saying this, the rocket that he'd shot not a minute earlier, which he'd been controlling remotely, had finished doing its roundabout turn and slammed into the large arrancar's back, exploding in a fairly impressive display. Seizing the opportunity, Cyborg dashed forward, using the thrusters in his feet to give himself a boost, allowing him to accelerate at a far superior rate than normal. So when his fist made contact with Kareem's cheek, it struck with the same force as a speeding semi hitting a brick wall at almost a hundred miles an hour. The cybernetic teen shot out a cable from his arm, catching the now airborne arrancar, then yanked on it, pulling him back in order to slam a metal fist flat into his face, making an audible sound that suggested a broken nose. However, he didn't stop there, but rather continued pounding on Kareem with his fists, putting all his strength behind every blow. He shifted his right arm into its cannon form, charging up energy as he lashed out with a roundhouse kick, then released a sonic blast at point blank range, engulfing Kareem in bluish white energy.

Cyborg fell to one knee following this, the energy he'd spent having worn him out a little. He breathed in a few times, before getting to his feet, upon which he heard Shelliane say a single word, followed by a rather large burst of spiritual pressure coming from her direction. However, before he even thought about looking up to see what that was all about, his attention was drawn elsewhere. Standing down the street some distance from Cyborg, was Kareem, obviously looking quite a bit worse for wear, with a broken nose, cracked mask, singed clothes, and a handful of burns and bruises about his body. "That was singularly unpleasant, and surprisingly painful," Kareem said. "It was fun toying with you before, but I can see that despite your shortcomings, you're too good for that. In fact, you've fought well enough that I'll grant you the privilege of dying at the hands of my release form."

'Release form? Something tells me this isn't a good thing,' Cyborg thought to himself as Kareem laid a hand on the hilt of his zanpakuto. "What do you mean by 'release form'?"

"I'll make this simple. It means I assume my true form and unleash my full power upon you."

Cyborg's eyes widened a little in surprise at the revelation. 'This guy was already tough enough, and he's not even at full power?'

"But enough talking, I'll just show you instead." Kareem pulled on his sword, drawing it from its sheath. "Terrorize… _Mantis Gigante!_" (_Giant Mantis_) An explosion of spiritual pressure erupted from the battered arrancar, prompting Cyborg to put up his arms in order to shield his face. When it died down a little, he looked at his opponent, and was surprised at what he saw. Kareem had changed into what looked like a huge, greenish humanoid mantis, with a boney mask resembling a mantis' face, except for his mouth which remained normal, albeit larger than before. He now had a pair of antenna resting atop his head, wings on his back, four pointy legs, and two arms as sharp as blades. A few moments after completing his transformation, Kareem bent his legs a little and sprung forward, dashing at Cyborg so fast that he was unable to dodge the sword like arm that swung at him, cutting a wide gash from his right shoulder down to his left hip.

The half metal titan spun around on his feet to face his opponent, who was sporting a confident grin. "**Now then… shall we continue?**" Kareem said, before dashing at him again.

* * *

Raven and Starfire were still holding their own well enough against Lycan and Nacyl. The young sorceress lashed out with her powers at the sword wielding arrancar, picking up a mound of debris from nearby rooftops and throwing it at him. In response, Lycan raised his free arm, charging up a red cero in the palm of his hand, quickly releasing the ball of energy in a beam that blasted through Raven's attack, continuing onward and prompting her to erect a black shield. The cero smashed against her defensive barrier, which held fast against the onslaught, excess energy harmlessly spilling out over the sides. When he was done, Lycan pulled back his sword and charged straight at the pale skinned girl, but when he got within a dozen feet, he vanished and re-appeared behind her. Sensing his sudden shift, Raven moved out of the way, mostly dodging his sword, yet still earning a small cut on her right side.

Ignoring the minor wound, she spun around while thrusting her hand out at Lycan, shooting off a dark beam that he didn't have the time to dodge, especially with the current lack of distance between them. The black energy struck him in the chest, pitching him back some distance, though he was quick to recover and come back for more. Lycan swung his sword at Raven with speed and ferocity, but she was still able to block his swings and thrusts with her powers, until one point where she reached out with both hands, which were covered in black energy, and managed to catch the blade coming down at her. The young sorceress' telekinetic powers quickly wrapped around the arrancar's zanpakuto, ripping it from his hands, forcing him to abandon it less he be caught. Raven tossed aside his weapon, lashing out with a barrage of razor blades of darkness, putting him on the defensive for the moment.

While this was happening, Starfire was fighting a more active aerial battle against her own opponent. The Tamaranian girl flew straight towards her enemy, throwing a hard punch, only to miss when he used his speed to appear behind her. She put up her arm, blocking the kick aimed at the back of her head and grabbed Nacyl's leg. The arrancar responded by spinning around and kicking her in the side of the face with his other leg, causing her to let go, although she still managed to punch him in the chest before he moved away. The two combatants charged at each other, both throwing a punch that resulted in their fists colliding together, Starfire's strength overpowering him after a few seconds. Nacyl slid back a little, then charged again in the same manner, except that this time he vanished when he was close, re-appearing a few feet above and coming down at the alien girl with a double handed blow. The Tamaranian raised her arms to block, but the strength and momentum still forced her down until she crashed into a neon sign.

Shrugging off the impact, she looked up in time to see Nacyl coming at her, and reflexively shot out her eyebeams, hitting him dead in the chest and blasting him a distance away. Even though the attack had still hurt him a little, a grin appeared on his face before he sped straight towards Starfire, who jumped up and flew away, the arrancar crashing into the spot she'd been a mere second ago. Kicking up off the rooftop, Nacyl charged at her with surprising speed, which Starfire managed to use to her advantage by half grabbing him when he came close and throwing him away, putting a good amount of distance between them. Green energy covering her hands, she started throwing starbolts as fast as she could generate them, forcing her opponent to forgo any form of offense in order to concentrate on dodging instead.

As Raven was fighting against Lycan, who was still unarmed, a tendril of darkness extended from the female titan in question, reaching out and ensnaring a large advertisement billboard. Finding a break in Raven's attack, Lycan used his high speed to charge at her with a fist pulled back, only to end up punching the billboard she'd picked up, then have one side of it fold over, sandwiching him between two pieces. Catching a glimpse of her friend's battle, she saw Nacyl who had made his way through the alien girl's barrage of starbolts, only to have her abruptly stop and quickly reach out, grabbing him with an iron grip. "Starfire, throw him!" Raven called out.

Starfire spun around and threw Nacyl towards Raven, adding onto the momentum by hitting him with her eyebeams. Nacyl slammed into the advertisement panel hard, the other side snapping shut over his body like a bear trap, ensnaring him inside in the same way as Lycan. Raven then threw the billboard upward, and without the need for words, Starfire put her hands together and unleashed a powerful beam of green energy, at the same time as Raven unleashed an equally powerful beam of black energy. Both attacks hit the two arrancars from opposite ends at the same time, resulting in a rather impressive explosion. "Have we won?" Starfire asked as the billboard's mangled remains crashed to the ground below.

Raven stretched out with her senses, searching for the two arrancars' presence. "I think they're…" The young sorceress interrupted herself when she picked up on Nacyl and Lycan's spiritual pressure. "They're not done yet." The two arrancars in question managed to extract themselves from the wreckage of their metal prison, although Raven and Starfire's combined attack had clearly left them beaten, bruised and battered.

"That hurt… a lot," Lycan spoke up, picking up his sword, which he had landed right next to.

"Yes… it did," Nacyl agreed, grunting in pain a little. "As fun as all this has been, I think it's time we stopped playing with them." The unarmed arrancar pulled out his sword, holding it in one hand.

"Come now. Let's show them what we can really do," Lycan said. Nacyl nodded in agreement, the two of them grabbing each other's free hand.

The two arrancars' spiritual pressure started to rise as they spoke up at the same time. "Shred them to pieces… _Gran Bestia Feroz!_" (_Great Vicious Beast_) Their spiritual pressure burst out as they were both engulfed in a bright light. Just as it was fading, two huge chunks of concrete were hurled into the air towards Raven and Starfire. One of them struck the alien girl hard, and although Raven was able to put up a shield of black energy, it shattered under the impact before she had time to fortify it. Immediately after, something appeared in front of the young sorceress and hit her with enough strength that she was sent flying back, ending up next to Starfire.

Sensing a strange spiritual pressure, the two female titans looked in the direction from where they'd been attacked, and instead of Lycan and Nacyl, they saw only one. It, being that there was no other applicable word to describe it, looked like a bunch of different animals all thrown in together to form one hideous and vicious creature. Its head looked like a wolf's, with bull horns, tusks, a serpentine tongue and a lion's mane. It had two massive arms, the right being that of a gorilla while the left was a grizzly's. Its muscular torso looked like a rhino's armored skin, while on the back there was a wing with feathers, and a bat's wing. The legs seemed to be a tiger's hind legs, and it had a long tail with what looked like a boney club at the end. "_**This is our release form, our true power**_**,**" the creature spoke, both Lycan and Nacyl's voices resonating at the same time. "_**You should be commended for forcing us to reveal our resurrection. And now you will die!**_"

* * *

Despite the fact that Xabat now wielding two swords, not to mention his slight increase in speed and power, Robin and Beast boy were still able to fight him on somewhat even terms, although this was proving a little more difficult than previously. The 'X' masked arrancar jumped high in the air, coming down fast at Robin, who back flipped out of the way, not with much time to spare. A small crater appeared when he crashed into the ground, upsetting the Boy Wonder's balance a little. Seeing this slight vulnerability, he dashed forward, only to be stopped by a mound of flesh and armored boney plates when Beast Boy changed into a Stegosaurus, swinging his spiked tail at him. Hardly fazed by this, Xabat blocked it with one sword, aiming the other at a weak spot, only to have it blocked in turn when Robin jumped over his green friend and put his staff in the way.

Kicking off Beast Boy's body, Robin jumped forward, intent on delivering a flying kick to their enemy's face. Xabat leaned to the side, dodging the attack, then spun around and slammed the hilt of his left sword into Robin's back at the same time that he swung his right at Beast Boy's exposed flesh. The shape-shifter suddenly became a turtle, his hard shell protecting him, even though he was sent flying down the street at the same time as Robin. He then charged at the Titans' leader, who leapt to his feet, twirling his staff with surprising speed, intercepting the deadly blades, until Xabat forced a deadlock when both his swords struck at the same time. Holding this position for a moment, the arrancar broke off when he swung his leg and swept Robin's feet out from underneath him.

The titans' leader rolled to the side, avoiding a potential grievous injury, but still earning a cut on his forearm. Xabat went to attack again, but changed part way and jumped into the air, landing on the back of a very ill-tempered green African buffalo that had been charging at him. When he raised his swords to bring them down at Beast Boy's neck, he found himself unexpectedly sailing through the air when the changeling abruptly stopped in his tracks, catapulting him off his back. He flew a short distance, twisting his body and positioning himself for a perfect landing. However, just as his feet touched down, a disk that Robin had thrown came into contact with his legs, freezing him up to the knees, trapping him in place. The two titans came charging at that moment, Robin ridding atop a green elephant, against which Xabat opened his mouth wide and charged up a red cero, firing it off at them.

He then hacked off the ice holding him in place with a couple swings, just in time for Robin, who had been tossed into the air by his friend, to fall down on him with a powerful swing of his staff, knocking him back, causing him to lose one of his swords. Unexpectedly, Xabat made a fist and did a punching motion, a red electric like ball of energy shooting out at Robin, clipping him in the side, but still lifting him off his feet and carrying him almost a dozen feet. Beast Boy, who after throwing Robin had changed into an eagle, though not without escaping Xabat's cero entirely, dove down at their enemy, becoming a skunk as he was falling, flicking out his tail and letting loose. "ARRRRRRGH!" Xabat cried out as the green skunk's foul liquid hit him right in the face.

Taking advantage of this, Robin got to his feet and ran towards their enemy as fast as he could, applying the techniques relating to The Bear through the use of his staff, hitting Xabat with all the strength he could muster. "Beast Boy, now!" Robin called out to his friend as he smashed his staff into the arrancar's chin and jumped to the side. The changeling suddenly turned into a yeti, slamming a fist hard into Xabat's chest. He followed up with a couple more powerful blows like this and then grabbed him by the leg, repeatedly smashing him into the pavement with his form's impressive strength. He followed up by jumping high, throwing Xabat down, then landed him in the form of a T-Rex, creating a sizeable crater in the process.

"Did I get im?" Beast Boy asked, changing into his regular form.

"I wouldn't think he'd make it after getting crushed by a multi-ton dinosaur like that." A slight rumbling noise from the crater where Beast Boy had landed on their enemy caught both Titans' attention.

"Think again," Xabat said, pulling himself out and onto his feet. The 'X' masked arrancar looked like he'd spent twelve rounds getting pummelled by the world's angriest boxer, had a ton of bricks fall over his head and then gotten in the ring with the boxer for another dozen rounds. But despite all this, he was still able to stand straight, extending his free hand towards his second sword, which floated towards him, and snatching it out of the air.

"Dude! Doesn't this guy give up?"

"I'll admit you two caught me by surprise. I hadn't quite expected this much of a fight, even with what I'd seen before this little beating. You have my respect for being able to inflict this much damage on me. However, as a fair warning, I'm done playing around with you both. Now get ready to witness my true form." Xabat then fused his two swords into one and held it out before him. "Tear them asunder… _Garra del Dragón_!" (_Dragon Claw_) A flash of light and spiritual pressure forced Robin and Beast Boy to look away from their enemy for a brief moment. When they looked at him again, they saw that he had transformed into what appeared to be a humanoid dragon creature. He had a dragon's head, complete with fangs, horns and gleaming red eyes, sharp claws at his hands and feet, a long tail that snaked out behind him, and two majestic dragon wings sticking out from his back. Most of his body was covered in armored, dark purple scales, with the inside of his wings being a light brown color.

"What the…?" Robin spoke up, sensing that Xabat's spiritual pressure was much higher than before.

"**This is my true form,**" the dragonic arrancar said in a deep voice. "**And as hard as you two have fought…**" Xabat suddenly vanished, re-appearing in front of Robin, moving so fast that neither titan had time to react as he punched Robin in the chest, sending him flying way back. Beast Boy changed into a gorilla and swung one of his massive fists at their enemy, only to be effortlessly stopped by one of his wings, then sent flying back as well when he whipped his tail, slamming it into the changeling's side. "**You no longer stand a chance of defeating me.**"

* * *

Again with Gale, the winged boy in question was still engaged in his fight against Striker, though anyone witnessing this would know with relative ease that it was one-sided. Gale was fighting as hard as he had ever fought, swinging his transparent sword, wielding his powers in impressive displays and using all his skills in flying. But despite this, Striker had not yet drawn his zanpakuto and was still beating him up, even toying with him. "Come along, little bird," the villainous arrancar taunted, standing in mid-air below him. "I'm waiting."

Eyes flashing with anger, Gale folded his wings against his back and dived, like a peregrine falcon after its prey. As he dove down, Gale sent out a blade of air, which Striker stopped with one hand, casting it off to the side. At the same time, the elemental titan rolled forward with a leg extended, forming a talon of air around his foot, aiming to slam it into Striker's chest, only for his enemy to reach out and grab him by the ankle, effectively stopping him in his tracks. The arrancar swung him around, throwing him through a large neon sign, the winged boy going on until he crashed into a particularly large sign where he stayed put for a few seconds, before managing to extract himself from it. Grunting in pain a little, Gale chose to dispel his sword and created a pulse of air beneath to get a boost and fly up. This time, Striker charged, weaving around razor sharp gusts of wind sent his way.

Gale flew forward, looking as if he was going to meet Striker's charge head on, but did an absolute last moment mid-air roll, the two of them passing right by each other. He then thrust out with his arm, releasing the beam of wind he'd discreetly been charging up in his hand, hitting Striker at point blank range. The almost non-existent distance between them, and the power Gale had put into this move, caused Striker to be blasted far back, but even so, he had suffered no visible harm. "Oh no, you ripped my jacket," Striker said mockingly, showing a tear below his neck that made his hollow hole more obvious.

'What the hell's up with this guy?' Gale thought to himself, re-materializing his sword of air and holding it in both hands. 'I've hit him with my best attacks, and he doesn't have even a scratch to show for it. Last time we fought, I beat him like it was nothing, so how did he get this powerful?'

Striker suddenly vanished, re-appearing in front of Gale with no more than a foot separating them. The villainous arrancar threw a punch aimed at his chest, which Gale blocked just in time by moving his sword of air, though Striker reached out with his free arm and flicked a finger at him. And as innocuous as this action might have seemed, he was hit with enough force to send him on an uncontrolled flight for close to a quarter mile. When he finally managed to steady himself, Gale could feel that he certainly had a few bruises and at least a couple broken ribs, on top of his already existing injuries. "How pathetic," Striker said, looking at him with a sneer. "I can't believe you ever defeated me when I was still alive. Too bad for all your friends though."

"What're you talking about?" Gale demanded, not letting his guard down.

"It's nothing much, just that your friends no longer stand a chance now that my subordinates have released their swords. It's too bad for you, seeing as how they're all going to die and there's nothing you can do to change it." Hearing this, Gale let out a fearsome battle cry, power flaring around him as he zoomed forward with rather impressive speed. He swung his sword, from which a HUGE blade of air arced forth, slamming into Striker, who pushed it aside using both arms. Gale continued attacking relentlessly without pause, summoning torrential winds and cyclones, razor sharp blades and spikes of air, powerful beams of wind, throwing everything at his enemy. Striker dodged and deflected the attacks that came at him, until he suddenly used his speed to charge through and punch Gale in the cheek, halting the winged boy's assault. A maniacal expression crept onto his face as he followed up with a battery of punches, hitting him over and over. He finalized this beating by connecting with a vicious uppercut, then appearing above him and landing a kick to his stomach, making him fall down until he crashed into the ground, creating a crater upon impact.

Striker came down a little until he was just a short distance above the surrounding buildings, but close enough so that Gale would hear him. "So, kid, do you want to know what happened to me after I died?"

"You became a hollow and then an arrancar, right?" Gale asked, groaning in pain.

"So you already know about the soul society and all that, good, this will make things so much easier. Ahem… On that day, seven years ago, just after I got my powers, I absorbed a small fry hollow that had appeared in Jump City for one reason or another. Now, because of that, I became a hollow and ended up in Hueco Mundo at the moment of my death. But, contrary to many cases, I lost none of my memories, none of my desire for revenge. Eventually, I got around to killing and eating other hollows in order to get stronger, in case I'd ever come across you again. I may have started small, but I consumed enough hollows to evolve into a Gillian, then an Adjuchas, and after years, I finally became a Vasto Lorde."

'Keep him talking,' Gale thought in his mind. "So what happened then?"

"Well, not too long after I reached the final level of a hollow's evolution, I was approached by the recently defected soul reaper captain known as Sosuke Aizen. And in exchange for my joining his army, he used a device called the Hogyoku to transform me into an arrancar." As Striker was talking, Gale managed to force himself to stand, ignoring his pain and injuries through sheer willpower. He changed his sword into a platform of air, which he climbed upon and used to fly up to the same level as his enemy. "So…" Striker said after he finished by telling him about how he'd come to be in Karakura Town. "Now you know the whole story. Was there anything you'd like to say before I kill you?"

"Just… one… thing."

"Then let's hear it."

Gale breathed in a few times, before taking in a deep breath… and then he screamed. Gale put as much power as he possibly could into this, amplifying his voice to such levels that Black Canary's famous 'Canary Cry' would have seemed insignificant in comparison. The noise that erupted from his mouth was of greater intensity and power than even the screech he had unleashed against the two ink creatures he and Raven had fought in the graveyard. And every single shred of this was aimed directly at Striker. The arrancar in question clamped his hands over his ears in an attempt to block out the horrible sound, which was clearly causing him some form of harm. Keeping his ears covered, Striker opened his mouth wide, gathering a blood red ball of energy and fired off a crimson cero, pushing back against the super-powered sonic shriek. The two attacks pushed against each other for a bit, but unfortunately for Gale, the crimson cero powered through until he was forced to give up and move out of the way. "I'm impressed, kid," Striker said. "You actually managed to hurt me a little with that move. But it looks like you're just about worn out, whereas I've hardly broken a sweat."

"Damn it!" Gale swore. The winged Titan was breathing heavily, since doing such a powerful scream had indeed worn him out a fair bit.

"I suppose if that's as much of a fight as you're going to give me, then I might as well stop toying with you and just finish you off right now."

'Alright… I've tried almost every trick I know, and now there's only one thing left to do.'

"So long, boy," Striker said. He zoomed off straight towards Gale, arm pulled back, and then stabbed him in the chest with his hand. However, when he pulled back his arm, instead of having blood gushing out, the elemental teenager simply vanished into nothingness. "What the hell!?" Striker exclaimed, not having expected anything of the sort. Out of the blue, something unknown promptly slammed into him with incredible force. Leaving only a second to wonder as to just what had hit him so hard, he was suddenly hit by a force of equal power a second time, and a third, and a fourth. As he was about to get hit a firth time, Striker managed to sense the incoming attack just in time to use his high speed to get out of the way.

Now having a moment to survey his surroundings, he saw that Gale was standing on a platform of air about a dozen feet from where Striker had thought he'd been when he'd tried to stab him. The Titan had created a construct of air combined with an illusion, while masking himself with another illusion to make himself invisible and move out of the way before his enemy struck. And now, the same giant eagle of air that had battered Malchior was in place next to its master. Gale merely gave his enemy a cold stare, and then the eagle let out a loud screech, before charging at the arrancar again.

* * *

While Gale had managed to gain an advantage over his enemy, Raven and Starfire were not quite as lucky as him. Since Lycan and Nacyl had assumed their true form, fusing into a hideous amalgamation of animals, the two female titans had been having a rather hard time. "_**This is too easy,**_" the creature said, smirking as it deflected a barrage of starbolts with its wings. While Starfire continued throwing starbolts, Raven picked up a large piece of rubble and threw it at their enemy, who caught it with its gorilla arm and hurled it at Starfire. The Tamaranian girl let loose with her eyebeams to blow away the rubble, only to have the creature appear in front of her and hit her hard in the stomach with its club like tail.

Raven fired off a beam of black energy, which Lycan/Nacyl stopped with its grizzly bear arm, batting it aside. She then put up a barrier in front of herself when he charged towards her with impressive speed. Her defense held out for the briefest moment when he slammed head first into it, but shattered upon being hit with a hard punch, leaving her prone to a smack from his bat wing which sent her flying back. The creature then lifted its tail, pointing it at the two titans, gathering a ball of orange colored energy at the tip. Seeing this, Raven grabbed her friend's hand, the two of them putting up a barrier with their combined powers a mere half second before their enemy let loose. The orange cero slammed into their black and green shield, which stood for a short moment before caving in, the remainder of the attack hitting them both.

"_**Not bad,**_" the creature said, looking at the two teenage girls, who were still alive and somewhat well, their shield having held out long enough so that when his cero had broken through, they hadn't been hit with its full power, even though they hadn't escaped unscathed either. "_**But not good enough.**_" It then vanished and re-appeared behind them, hitting Starfire with its bat wing, and Raven with its feathered wing. The young sorceress went to lash out with her powers as she fell, only to have their enemy disappear again and slam her with its grizzly bear paw, making her to crash into a rooftop and causing further injury with its claws. That done, he zoomed off towards Starfire, easily dodging a barrage of starbolts and latching his hands around her wrists.

"_**How interesting,**_" he muttered, kneeing Starfire in the stomach. "_**I hadn't noticed before…**_" The creature smacked her in the face with its bat wing. "_**But you smell strange.**_" Lycan/Nacyl head-butted the alien girl, then held her still as it contemplated something. "_**It's not a human, it's not the strange smell I first picked up from you, and it isn't the smell of a soul reaper either.**_" It then slapped Starfire in the face with its feathered wing."_**It's almost as if you were like a-**_" The evil being interrupted itself when Raven raised her hand and fired off a weak beam of black energy which hit it in the back, not causing any damage. "_**It seems your friend still has a little fight left in her. What say I get rid of her so that we can finish this little conversation without any interruptions?**_" The creature turned in Raven's direction and was going to move towards her, but stopped when Starfire grabbed its arms in an iron grip.

"**YOU WILL NOT!**" The alien girl then lashed out with a powerful kick to his stomach, sending him flying a good distance back, before he was able to steady himself.

"_**What was that?**_" Lycan/Nacyl wondered, looking up at Starfire. The Tamaranian in question was floating in mid-air, an aggressive posture and eyes blazing with fury.

"**YOU SAY YOU WILL GET RID OF MY FRIEND? NO… I WILL GET RID OF YOU!**" she shouted, her voice resonating with rage. She gripped her head in both hands as a white sludge like matter suddenly came out of her mouth, snaking its way up, expanding until it covered her face entirely. When she put her hands down again, Starfire was sporting a stark white, full face hollow mask, with a black patch on the forehead and two yellow lines that dropped down, each splitting in two and flowing around the eyes, ending up on either side of a set of sharp teeth.

The fused arrancar's mouth dropped open in surprise upon seeing this. "_**A hollow mask?**_ _**How the hell did this happen?**_" the creature demanded. Starfire merely remained motionless, floating in mid-air with her eyes closed. "_**Answer me, damn it! How did you get a hollow mask!?**_" The Tamaranian girl opened her eyes, which were blazing red, instead of their usual green. She then let out a loud and fearsome roar, her spiritual pressure skyrocketing as she cried out. "_**With or without that mask, you're still no match for our true power!**_" Lycan/Nacyl shouted once Starfire calmed down a little. He then vanished and re-appeared behind the alien teenager, attempting to hit her in the back with a hard punch from his gorilla arm, only for her to reach behind and stop him without even looking. The creature tried to stab her with the claws of its grizzly bear arm, which she prevented by kicking it in the stomach hard enough to make it cough up a little blood and fly way back.

"No way…" Raven said, watching her friend beat up their enemy while she herself was stuck on the rooftop, trying to heal her own injuries. "This power is through the roof. But her spiritual pressure... I can sense darkness, as if she turned into a hollow."

"_**Damn you…**_" Lycan/Nacyl spat out, before charging at Starfire, gorilla arm pulled back. The alien girl merely stood still, until he swung at her with a hard punch, at which she extended one arm and stopped him flat with the palm of her hand. She then slammed her knee in his stomach, punched him hard in the chest, and lashed out with a vicious uppercut, all within less than a second. The creature managed to steady itself and looked down at its opponent, only to see Starfire vanish and appear right in front of it. She punched him in the face, then re-appeared behind him, landing a kick to his back hard enough to send him flying down and crashing into the pavement below. "_**We won't be defeated by the likes of you!**_" Lycan/Nacyl cried out, charging up an orange cero at the tip of his tail, then firing it off at Starfire.

Despite the danger this had previously presented, Starfire made no move to defend herself, the large beam of energy engulfing her form entirely. "Starfire!" Raven called out to her friend.

"_**Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!**_" Lycan/Nacyl laughed loudly, turning his attention towards the young sorceress. "_**I knew she couldn't win. Now it's your turn to-**_" The fused arrancar interrupted itself when the last wisps of its cero dissipated, showing Starfire who was surrounded by a bubble of red energy, having suffered no injury whatsoever. "_**Impossible!**_"

"**No… not impossible,**" Starfire spoke up as she banished the shield, her voice sounding strange and distorted. "**Now you will pay the price for so foolishly challenging me!**" She then extended her right hand to the side, as if reaching for something, at which tendrils of red energy began to slither down her arm, going further and taking shape, until she was holding a sword of crimson colored energy.

Faced with this, the fused arrancar let out a defiant cry, then leapt up off the ground, making a beeline for the Tamaranian girl. He/they pulled back their tail and swung it hard, although Starfire effortlessly caught it with one hand. She then gripped it hard and pulled, holding the creature upside down while putting a painful amount of pressure on its club like appendage, until she brought her sword around, blood splattering as she severed it at the base. "_**Arrrrrgh!**_" the creature cried out in pain.

Starfire watched him writhe, as if she was reveling at the sight of her enemy's condition. After a moment, she'd apparently decided that she'd had enough, and swung her sword down at him, blood red energy exploding from her weapon, engulfing the animalistic being, burning him until there was nothing left. That done, she raised her arms to the sky, letting out a cry of victory in her distorted voice. "Starfire…" Raven called out to her friend. The alien snapped her head in Raven's direction, then unexpectedly vanished and re-appeared on the opposite end of the rooftop, mask still on and sword held menacingly. "It's over, Star. He's gone."

"_**Not done, other still lives… I must eliminate all!**_" She then went to charge at her sorceress friend, but stopped halfway and fell down to her knees, her sword fading away as she struggled to control herself. "**No… friend… must not… rarrrrrrrr!**"

Raven ran forward as quickly as she could, placing both hands around her friend's head. She then reached into her friend's mind with her powers, grasping at the mass of darkness she could sense and extracting it. Sweat began to fall from her brow as she forced the darkness out of her friend, but she remained unrelenting in this task, sensing it falling lower and lower, until Starfire's mask finally shattered into a million tiny pieces and her eyes returned to normal. "Are you okay?" she asked her friend, exhausted both from the battle and draining the darkness out of Starfire.

"I am well. What happened to our enemy?"

"You beat him."

"That is good." Tiredness overcoming the two of them, they then promptly collapsed on the rooftop.

* * *

Since Xabat had assumed his release form, Robin and Beast Boy had been unable to inflict any damage on him whatsoever, though not for lack of trying. The Boy Wonder was making use of his training with the True Master, particularly that which related to the snake and the monkey, trying to sense his enemy's movements and doing his best to avoid his attacks. As for Beast Boy, his employed his sense of smell and meager talents in sensing spiritual pressure to respond to the dragonic arrancar's moves, rapidly shifting from one creature to another. But as hard as they were trying, Xabat still had the upper hand.

At the moment, Robin was attempting to keep their enemy's attention on himself, while making an effort to avoid serious injury. "**Try as hard as you like, you can't win,**" Xabat taunted Robin, taking a few half-hearted swings at him, and then suddenly dashing forward and hitting him in the stomach. As the titan leader went flying, Beast Boy dropped down at him in the form of a hippo, only to have Xabat catch him with one hand and throw him. Seeing the shape-shifter flying towards him, Robin managed to roll off to the side and avoid getting crushed as Beast Boy crashed into the pavement.

'Damn,' Robin thought to himself. 'This guy is too tough, and fast. There has to be something we can do.'

'**You have the power**' an ancient sounding, apparently male voice spoke up within Robin's mind. '**You must simply look within yourself.**' Robin forced himself to ignore the strange voice and focus on the battle instead.

Beast Boy changed into a cheetah and sprung to his feet, dashing towards their enemy with impressive speed, then changed into a triceratops before ramming into him. Despite this, Xabat merely reached out with both hands and stopped him in his tracks, then flipped him over his back, slamming him in the pavement. While he did this, Robin reached out into his belt and threw his last explosive disk, hoping to catch Xabat while Beast Boy held his attention. But the arrancar in question interrupted his pummeling of the green dinosaur, reaching out with lightning speed and snatching the disk out of mid-air before it hit him in the back. He then threw it back at Robin, who, not having the time to dodge, smacked it with his staff before it would hit him, even though the explosion still sent him flying into a wall.

Taking advantage of their enemy being distracted, Beast Boy changed into an elephant, rearing back and attempting to stomp on him, only to have Xabat vanish, causing him to miss and hit the pavement instead. The dragonic being re-appeared above, wings spread wide, then dived down, tacking the massive green pachyderm to the ground, then lunging at him and swiping with his claws, cutting a nasty gash in his side. Ignoring his pain, he shifted into an ankylosaurus, swinging his club like tail, although Xabat easily caught it with one hand, then swung him around, sending him crashing where Robin had been a moment ago. The Boy Wonder made his presence known when he fell towards his enemy from behind, attempting to bring his staff down on his head, but was stopped when Xabat suddenly spun around and grabbed him by the throat. He then plucked his staff from his hands and threw him so that he crashed next to Beast Boy. "**You are both most persistent. I don't know whether I should admire your courage, or laugh at your stupidity.**"

"Any idea for how to beat this guy?" Beast Boy asked.

"You need to turn into 'The Beast'. It's the only thing I can think of that might be able to stand up to this guy as he is now."

"But I'm not sure how to-" Beast Boy protested, but was interrupted by his friend.

"Do it!" Robin ordered curtly.

The two of them turned their full attention back towards their enemy when he gripped Robin's staff with both hands and snapped it in two with a minimum of effort, then cast the pieces aside. "**Now… which one of you should I kill first?**" he thought out loud, slowly walking towards them. "**I think I'll start with the green kid.**" Just as he came close, Robin threw a handful of pellets at the ground, creating a shroud of smoke that surrounded them. "**Do you really think these tricks will actually make a difference?**" Xabat flew up a little and flapped his wings, blowing away all the smoke, though the two titans were no longer in their original position.

"Hey, ugly!" Robin called out, standing down the street a distance from him. "Come and get me!"

"**As you wish.**" Xabat dived down towards the apparently helpless Titan. Robin managed to dodge his initial strike by an almost non-existent margin, but was cut when Xabat raked his claws across his chest, then sent flying again when his enemy's foot hit him in the stomach. But before further damage could be done, something seemingly sprung out of nowhere and tackled Xabat, slamming him to the ground. The dragonic being sprung to its feet and was somewhat surprised to see Beast Boy, who had changed into the creature the Titans had dubbed 'The Beast'. "**Interesting… I can sense that your current form is more powerful than your other ones. But is it enough?**" In response, the changeling let out a primal roar and sprung forward, only missing his target by a narrow margin. Xabat then lashed out with his claws, although Beast Boy was able to dodge it and retaliate with an uppercut that clipped him in the chin.

Xabat flew up a little, then vanished and re-appeared behind the shape-shifter, slamming a fist into his back, sending him careening towards a wall. Beast Boy simply flipped around and bounced off, rocketing towards their enemy with a full body slam. Robin watched from the sidelines as the two powerhouses fought, knowing that there wasn't much he could do, especially considering his injured state. '**But there is,**' the strange voice spoke up again.

'What are you?' he thought in his head.

'**I am a part of you,**' the voice said.

'Why haven't I ever heard you before now?'

'**Because you never knew to listen, young one.**'

'You said I had the power to help. How do I do that?'

'**You must call out my name.**'

'**What is your name!?**' Robin demanded, desperately.

'**My name is…**' The Boy Wonder heard only what sounded like rumbling thunder, instead of the voice's name.

'What is it? Why aren't you telling me your name?'

'**I did, but you simply could not hear me.**'

Robin winced as Xabat managed to block a punch from 'The Beast', and retaliated by whipping its tail, sending the green creature flying a little, then appearing above and landing a double handed blow that pitched him back down. 'I don't know who or what you are, or why you're in my head, but my friend is in trouble and I need to help him!'

'**You must look deep within yourself. If you are determined, and do not falter… then you will be able to use my power.**'

Robin forced himself to concentrate hard, in the same manner as the training with the Snake, except that instead of sensing outward, he looked within himself. As he did this, Xabat threw a hard punch at Beast Boy, only to have him shrug it off and hit him squarely in the jaw, followed by a couple more blows, one of which knocked him back a good distance. The dragonic being sprung to his feet and vanished, appearing right in front of the changeling, throwing a kick that caught him in the chest. He attempted to follow up with a punch, only to have Beast Boy catch his hand, and then the other. The two of them held each other at a stalemate for a while, until 'The Beast' began to overpower him despite his efforts. However, Xabat changed his tactics, getting a grip on Beast Boy's hands as he opened his mouth wide, charging up a dark purple cero. Seeing this, Beast Boy instinctively tried to get away, but his enemy's grip held him in place until the cero charged up enough energy and fired, hitting him full force.

When things cleared up again, the changeling was sprawled out on the pavement a good distance away, lying flat on his back. No longer having the strength to remain as 'The Beast', he reverted to his usual form, revealing a series of grizzly looking burns and bruises. "Beast Boy!" Robin called out, shocked at seeing him so badly injured.

"**Well, I guess that's it for him,**" Xabat spoke up, a somewhat mocking tone in his voice. "**Though I must admit, I'm quite surprised that he was able to get hit with my cero at point blank range and not die outright.**" He then turned his attention towards Robin, who was still on his knees. "**I suppose I might as well finish kill you now.**"

The dragonic arrancar went to take a step forward, but stopped when he suddenly felt a rather impressive spike of spiritual pressure erupting from the Boy Wonder himself. Robin started to rise until he was standing straight on both feet, his wounds healing in a matter of seconds, not even leaving so much as a trace. "Sorry," Robin spoke up, determination ingrained into his voice. "But if anyone's dying today, then it's not going to be me."

"**I don't know how your wounds healed so fast, or where this spiritual pressure came from, but it won't be enough to save you, boy.**" Xabat suddenly charged forward, lunging with claws outstretched, and ready to tear into-

*CLANG!*

A noise rang out as Xabat's strike was halted inches from the Boy Wonder's chest. Closer examination revealed that Robin was somehow holding the pieces of his staff, keeping his opponent at bay with one in each hand. The Titans' leader broke off the stalemate when he pushed against his opponent and kicked upward, slamming the heel of his boot into Xabat's chin, putting some distance between them. "Like I said, I'm not about to die today," Robin spoke clearly. His spiritual then burst outward, surprising the dragonic arrancar, although he himself took it all in calmly. As if moving subconsciously, he slammed the pieces of his staff together, which rippled and began to change, at the same time as Robin's uniform appeared to do the same. A short moment later, Robin was dressed in a black kimono outfit that was made so that it clung to his body, though not quite as much as his usual attire, along with his utility belt which was still around his waist. In addition, he was now holding an elegant katana with a small falcon inscribed at the base of the blade, and a guard made to look like a falcon in flight.

"**What the-?**" Xabat exclaimed, clearly surprised by this development. "**How did this happen? Why are you dressed like a soul reaper? And why does your spiritual feel like that of a soul reaper? This shouldn't be possible, you're only human!**"

"I am only human, but that's never stopped me before, and it's not about to stop me now," Robin said, changing his grip on his sword so that he held it with two hands. He then suddenly vanished, moving so fast that Xabat could only see him when he re-appeared a short distance behind him, blood bursting out of a newly formed cut on his shoulder.

"Damn you!" the arrancar cried out, using his speed to appear behind the Boy Wonder, swinging both arms at him with claws extended, only to have them blocked by Robin's sword. Xabat attempted to smack him with his wings, but Robin smoothly disengaged, then jumped over his enemy's tail, creating a gash along it in the process and connecting with a drop kick. Robin spun around as he landed, lashing out with a roundhouse kick, slamming his foot in the arrancar's stomach, then pivoted again and swung his sword. And although Xabat was able to put up his arms in time to defend himself, the force with which he was struck still sent him flying back. "Bastard!" Xabat spat out, blood now dripping from his arms. He then flew up and opened his mouth, charging up a dark purple cero that was aimed at Beast Boy, who was still lying prone on the street away from them both.

Seeing this, Robin sped towards his unconscious friend just as the villainous arrancar released his attack. But to his surprise, Robin was able to effectively block the cero with his zanpakuto, pushing against it harder and harder, until he managed to send it right back at him. "**I've survived for too long to lose just like this!" **Xabat said as the blast resulting from him getting him with his own attack faded away. "**I refuse to be beaten by a lowly human who thinks he's a soul reaper. I will…**" The arrancar in question was interrupted when Robin appeared in front of him in mid-air and held his sword against his throat.

"You know, in my world, they call me a hero. And one of the rules of being a hero is that unless of extreme circumstances, to protect your life or the life of someone else, you're not allowed to kill."

"**Just let me go and I promise I won't harm anyone else, I swear! I'll never harm another soul!**"

"However… you tried to kill me, and you tried to kill my friend when he didn't have the means to defend himself. You may look somewhat human, but you're just an evil hollow, and I know you won't keep your word if I let you go. And as I was told, a zanpakuto purifies hollows instead of actually killing them, so that's enough of a difference to make this right in my book." A quick slice and Xabat's head was separated from the rest of his body. The arrancar dissolved into a mass of spiritual particles when it hit the ground, the spirit itself being sent off to the soul society as it was purified. Robin then dropped down to the street, his grip around his sword loosening until it clattered to the ground, changing back into a staff at the same time as his uniform returned to normal, and he himself collapsed.

* * *

Cyborg jumped to the right, using the boosters in his feet as Kareem charged at him, one of the arrancar's sword arms nicking him on his left. Not giving him much pause, the mantis being spun around in a flash and bounced back at him, catching him with a backhand that picked him clean off his feet and knocked him into a wall. 'This is not good,' the cybernetic teen thought to himself.

"**Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, how pathetic,**" Kareem mocked him, walking forward at a leisurely pace. "**I thought you would've put up more of a fight, given what you accomplished earlier. But I suppose my release form is just too much for you to handle.**"

'He's right. I haven't been able to lay a finger on him since he's changed. This is even worse than my last fight against Brother Blood. If I don't do something fast…'

Cyborg quickly pushed off the wall, Kareem's sword arms slicing through the brick where he'd been a second ago. He then shifted his arm and shot off a sonic blast, only to have his opponent swat it aside like a bothersome fly. The mantis arrancar suddenly appeared behind Cyborg, swinging one of its sword arms and creating a rather serious gash in his back, just like the one he'd first inflicted. He followed up by kicking him hard so that he went tumbling down the street, then vanished and appeared behind, swinging his arm in an underhanded strike that sent him flying up into the air. Kareem finalized this beating when he used his speed to appear above, swinging both arms downward, causing him to slam into the pavement hard enough to make crater upon impact.

The half-metal teen managed to roll over onto his hands and knees, his computer system telling him that the damage he'd taken was nearing critical, although looking at himself, he could already determine that it was severe. As his mind worked furiously to figure out a solution, his instincts screamed at him to move, which he managed to do, but not in time to avoid Kareem's descending slash entirely, which knocked him back again. The arrancar waited until he got to his feet before charging forward, cutting off Cyborg's left arm at the elbow, then slashing at the cybernetic half of his face. Cyborg changed his remaining arm into his sonic cannon, but before he could do anything, he received a kick in the chest so hard that it caused a noticeable dent, along with sending him flying yet again. "**So, anything you'd like to say before I finish you off? Did you have any last words perhaps?**"

"I got one," Cyborg said as he managed to use his internal computers to control his severed arm despite the damage the heat shot had done. At the same time, he began to discreetly charge up energy in his arm for one last shot, pulling power from his reserves and putting as much of it as he could into his sonic cannon.

"**Really? And what would that be?**"

Cyborg waited for a second as his arm flew up and latched itself onto the arrancar before answering. "Boom." Just as he said this, the entire arm detonated in a fairly impressive display, at the same time as he raised his sonic cannon and let loose, hitting him dead center. However, when things cleared up again, it was revealed that he was relatively unharmed, safe for a few burns and bruises.

"**Nice try,**" Kareem said with a sneer. "**Too bad it was just about worthless.**"

Cyborg's face had a downcast look at this, seeing that his last trick had failed, and that he had nothing left. Not only that, but damage to his body was already critical, and his power levels were down in the dumps. 'I guess this is it,' he thought in his head. 'Didn't think it would end this way.' Corny as it may be, the half-metal teenager could see his life flashing before his eyes, from his time at school and his athletic life, to his relationship with his parents, especially the strained bond with his father. He saw the incident where his mother had died, and he himself had been severely maimed, how his father had grafted the advanced prosthetics he'd designed onto his body, and his resentment for the appearance his cybernetics gave him. However, as much as he may have disliked the robotic parts of his body, Cyborg would not deny that they always performed they job no matter what, and that they allowed him to be what he was to this day, a hero.

"**So long, tin man.**" Kareem then held out one arm pointed towards him, a small, light green dot appearing in front of the tip. The cero grew as it absorbed more energy, until it got to the size of a basketball, then blasted off right at Cyborg, who forced himself to stand tall and face the incoming attack. "**Guess that's it for him.**" The mantis arrancar said when he was done.

However, just as he said this, a large burst of spiritual pressure erupted from where Cyborg had been, blowing away all the smoke. An intense bluish/white light came out of nowhere, flowing over his body, repairing all the damage it came across, then travelling to the stump of his left arm, which grew back as if by magic. The light then appeared to sink into his cybernetics, which shifted and expanded, developing into a set of particularly tough looking armor all over his body, a white helmet that covered his head and a dark blue visor over his face. "Guess what? I'm not finished yet," Cyborg spoke in a strong, confident voice.

"**So you got a set of shining armor. I'm still going to run you over, tin man.**" Kareem then suddenly appeared behind Cyborg, taking a swing at his exposed back. But to his surprise, instead of running him through, his sword arm was stopped in its tracks upon hitting Cyborg's armor.

"Sorry, but not this time." The spikes on Cyborg's shoulders suddenly changed into a mass of white tentacles which reached behind and wrapped themselves around the arrancar, then pitched him forward, sending him sliding along the pavement before he was able to get to his feet. Cyborg then came charging at him with surprising speed, just barely missing as Kareem jumped high in the air, but sprung up off the ground and rocketed towards his enemy, connecting with a powerful uppercut. The mantis arrancar managed to steady himself in mid-air and zoom at Cyborg, only for him to catch both sword arms, then pitch him down so that he crashed into the street. Giving him no reprieve, the spiritually enhanced Titan pulled back his right arm, which became surrounded by bluish energy, and dove down, a rather large explosion ringing out when he slammed his fist into his enemy. He stood back a little, watching as the arrancar struggled to stand up.

"**I don't care how you got this new power, you're not going to win!**" Kareem spat out, despite his injured state. He vanished and appeared far enough above Cyborg, pointing both arms at him and charging up a cero. Seeing this happen, Cyborg raised his left arm, the armor on it expanding and taking the shape of a large round shield with a dark blue eye in the middle. Kareem then released his cero, which crashed down into Cyborg's shield arm with no effect. When the attack was done, the armored teen's shield was glowing with energy, until the eye shone brightly for a second, before shooting the absorbed cero back at its owner, catching him full face.

Although Kareem was still standing in mid-air, it was obvious that his injuries were rather serious. "To be honest, I'm not really sure how I got this power," Cyborg spoke up, flipping up his visor and looking at his opponent at the same time as his left arm reverted to its pre-shield form. "But I know what I'm going to do with it."

"**To hell with that, I'm not staying long enough to find out!**" Kareem tried to zoom away, using his speed in an attempt to escape. However, Cyborg's own speed was superior, something that was proven when his visor dropped into place and he sped towards him in a flash, landing a hard punch to his back. The armored teenager zipped back and forth, pounding on him with each pass, until he stopped for a second as the armor on both his arms grew outward and turned into a pair of deadly looking swords, with his hands having become the hilts, making it so that both weapons were literally an extension of his body. That done, he dashed forward one last time, moving so fast that he seemed to simply appear behind Kareem, with his arms extended to either side. Things got caught up when blood burst out from the mantis arrancar's mid-section, his body splitting into two pieces, crashing down below, before he finally dissolved into nothingness.

"Whoa, that was pretty damn impressive," Ryu spoke up as he approached Cyborg. The blue haired soul reaper was looking relatively well, despite having taken a something of a beating during the course of his fight. He was also decked out in form fitting, pitch black armor from the neck down, and holding his double bladed spear in one hand.

"Thanks…" Cyborg replied, his armor fading away until he was back to normal. He suddenly started to fall, but Ryu caught him before he dropped down much.

"Don't worry, I've got you."

"Well that's good to know." And with that said, he let his exhaustion overtake him.

* * *

Over at his end, Gale up high, kneeling on a platform of air, using his powers to fuel the giant eagle of air he had summoned. The bird like creature flew straight towards its target, slamming its beak into Striker's chest, blasting him away. The arrancar in question managed to steady himself, only to have the giant eagle ram him again, and then grasp him firmly in its talons. Holding him in its grip, it then dove down fast, then released him and pulled up at the very last moment. Striker slammed through the roof of a small abandoned warehouse, the entire building collapsing on him upon his landing. Gale and the giant eagle remained still for a moment, watching the mound of rubble, until it started to shift and their enemy emerged. The arrancar's jacket had been decimated, the rest of his clothes were mostly tattered, and he was sporting a bruise across his stomach, as well as a thin red line across his forehead and another at his chest. But even with his injuries, by no means was he down for the count.

Taking only a split second, Striker spat into the palm of his right hand and wiped the saliva across the cut on his forehead, sealing it up instantly, preventing any blood from going into his eyes. Seeing that his enemy was able to heal himself like this, and knowing how hard it was to inflict any damage in the first place, Gale quickly commanded the giant eagle to dive down at him before he could patch himself up further. However, just before it reached him, Striker used his super speed to move out of the way and appear standing high above in the sky. The eagle flew up and zoomed towards him again, but missed when he vanished to a good distance further back. Striker grinned as he took his left hand and smeared it with the blood from his chest wound, then held out his arm.

Violent blue energy began to charge up in the palm of his bloody hand, growing to ridiculous lengths in size and power, until Striker spoke a few short words. "Gran Rey Cero." The energy was then released, shooting a hugely powerful cero that struck the giant eagle of air just as it was coming at him, blasting it out of existence. Gale could only stare with eyes wide open, a look of total disbelief painted on his face.

"No way…" he muttered, his body unable to handle the shock of seeing his single most powerful technique defeated so easily.

"That wasn't a bad try, kid, I'll give you that much," Striker spoke up, a sneer on his face. He then took a few seconds to spit in his hands, and wipe away the injuries on his chest and stomach. "However, it looks like that was your most powerful attack, and it didn't even do that much damage. I guess the only thing left for you to do is just sit there and die." Gale could only watch helplessly as Striker grabbed his zanpakuto's hilt and pulled it from its sheath. He remained in his position for a couple seconds, as if savoring the moment, and then raised his sword as he went to dash towards the winged boy and finish him off.

A new voice was suddenly was suddenly heard just before Striker charged. "**Hado 88: Hiryū Gekizoku Shinten Raihō!**" A huge blast of blue, electric energy shot out from somewhere off to the side, prompting Striker to dodge, though the attack still caught his left arm, imprinting a mass of burns on it. Both fighters turned to look in the direction this had come from, and saw Shelliane, who had her tiger paw gauntlets, along with a helmet like a tiger's head, a pair of tiger paw boots, and a cloak and tail to match, all of which were light blue, with dark blue stripes. Gale's aunt came towards her nephew, putting herself between him and his enemy.

"Who the hell are you, soul reaper?"

"Shelliane Rhodes, squad 13 lieutenant. You were attacking my nephew, which I'm not going to allow."

"You're a lieutenant, and the kid's aunt? This is an interesting twist. But regardless of that, you're in my way. So I'll be forced to-" Before Striker could say anything more, a rip appeared in mid-air behind him, opening up until a man with short silvery hair stepped through, dressed in white, with eyes like slits and a grin on his face.

"Now, now, let's not do anything hasty," he said, putting a hand on Striker's shoulder. "After all, you left Hueco Mundo without Aizen-Sama's permission, you naughty little- oh, well excuse me, I didn't see you there, Lieutenant Rhodes." He grinned widely as he caught notice of Shelliane.

"Gin," the black haired woman said flatly.

"It's been too long. And who is this?" he directed towards Gale.

"He's her nephew, not to mention the reason I died," Striker spat out.

"My, my, you sure are an interesting case, kiddo. And you've got some pretty good spiritual pressure to boot. But where are my manners? I'm-"

"Gin Ichimaru, former captain of squad 3, now a traitor to the soul society, along with Kaname Tosen and Sosuke Aizen."

"So you already know about me? How very interesting. I'd love to stay and chat, but we really must get going." Gin then drew a line in mid-air with his finger, creating a rip that opened up into a murky darkness. "It was a pleasure seeing you, Lieutenant. And you too, little bird."

"I'll be back soon," Striker said to Gale, sheathing his sword as he and Gin stepped through the rip. "And when I do…" He drew a line across his throat, before the hole closed up again.

Shelliane's outfit returned to just a black kimono, while her tiger paw gauntlets reverted into a simple katana, which she put away in its sheath. "Amicus… are you alright?" she asked, turning to face her nephew.

"I failed…" he said with a downcast expression. "I hit him with everything I had, my absolute best… but it wasn't enough. He killed mom, and I failed to avenge her."

Shelliane wrapped her arms around him in a hug. "It's okay, Amicus. You're still alive," she said in a consoling voice. "It'll be alright." The last bits of his adrenaline left him, allowing for his weariness and injuries to catch up, causing him to black out in her arms.

* * *

So, I hope you liked it, and reviews would be REALLY, REALLY appreciated, as in, a lot. At best estimate, it'll probably take something like a month to get the next chapter typed up and posted, so, until then.


	25. Heroes, Hollows and Soul Reaper Part 4

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own the TEEN TITANS!**

So, after almost three months of working on this chapter, I've finally finished! YAYYY!

This officially concludes the mini series of the titans in karakura town, and if anyone has questions about some Bleach stuff that they don't understand, I'd be happy to explain. So, without further ado, read away.

* * *

From Darkness Comes Light

By: Patattack

**Heroes, Hollows and Soul Reapers – Part 4**

Kisuke Urahara had seen many, many things in the course of his life, more than a few of which would certainly have qualified as mind boggling to the average person. The blond haired man was currently in his shop, kneeling beside Ururu and reassuring her while his friend Tessai used kido to heal the injuries she'd obtained while assisting Renji in his fight against one of the arrancars. However, despite his experiences and all the strange things he'd seen, he was nevertheless surprised when the door to the room they were in slammed open, revealing Shelliane, with Gale unconscious in her arms, the winged boy emitting spiritual pressure as he was still in his spirit form. She was closely followed by Ryu, with Cyborg slung over his shoulder. Shaking off his initial surprise, he gently let go of Ururu's hand and quickly set up a pair of mats for the two soul reapers to lay Gale and Cyborg down on.

"What happened?" Kisuke asked.

"Arrancars, what else?" Ryu answered. "Three attacked Cyborg until Shelly and I came around and took two of them off his back."

"And what about our winged friend here? He's the one with that mystery spiritual pressure that popped up twice today."

"Yes, and he was fighting another arrancar," Shelliane said as she was kneeling down next to her nephew, using her skills in kido to heal his injuries. "I left after finishing my opponent and arrived just in time to save him. I'll explain the rest later. Right now we should go out to look for the rest of the Titans." A small whirlwind appeared in the middle of the room, spinning around for a second until it materialized into a transparent young man floating off the floor.

"_Peace, I mean no harm_," he reassured them all.

"What are you doing here?" Kisuke inquired, a curious expression on his face.

"_I merely came to tell you all that my lord's friends will be taken care of. Others have been informed about their location, and that they should be brought here so that they may recover._"

"Thank you…" Shelliane spoke up, not knowing this particular spirit's name.

"_Ventum._" (_East Wind_)

"Thank you, Ventum."

"_You're welcome, Lieutenant Rhodes,_" The wind spirit gave them all a short bow, then faded away into nothingness.

"It's a rare thing to see an elemental spirit," Kisuke spoke up a moment later. "It's even rarer to have the chance to speak with one up close like this. Aside from the nature of his powers, our winged friend appears to have some connection to this spirit, considering the way it spoke of him. I wonder…"

"Anyway, you were saying something about having saved the kid from an arrancar?" Ryu said.

"Not just any arrancar. This one was way more powerful and had far greater spiritual pressure than those we first encountered, even when they released their swords. I caught him in the arm with a level 80's hado spell and it only burned him. Quite frankly, I don't think I could've defeated him one on one, and I'm relieved that Amicus lasted as long as he did. Luckily enough, Gin showed up and brought him back to Hueco Mundo before anything else happened. Apparently his actions hadn't been sanctioned by Aizen."

"But once this arrancar reports what happened to Aizen, I have no doubts that that snake will have his eyes on the Titans," Ryu pointed out.

"Indeed, they'll likely catch his interest," Kisuke muttered. "Shelly…"

"Yes?" she answered, turning her head towards the blond haired shopkeeper.

"I'm curious as to how you know our winged friend's real name, assuming that Amicus is his real name. Is it possible the two of you are related?"

"There was this guy that my sister Kelly fell for one time. Never did meet him myself, but I can only assume he wasn't your average person. In other words, he's my nephew."

Kisuke nodded at this. "We should prepare accommodations for when the rest of the Titans come here."

* * *

Elsewhere in Karakura town, Ichigo Kurosaki was standing on one of the many rooftops, along with Rangiku. His friend Orihime Inoue was also with them, having been brought to heal Rukia, who'd been injured by the sixth espada, Grimmjow. "Are you sure you're going to be alright?" the orange haired teen asked the newly healed petite soul reaper.

"I told you already, I'm perfectly fine," she answered. "Orihime's healing didn't even leave a scar."

Ichigo went to speak up again, but was interrupted when a new voice spoke up. "_Excuse me?_" All of them suddenly turned to face the direction the voice had come from. What they saw was a young woman, no taller than Ichigo, with long hair and a serious, but gentle demeanor. But was caught their eye most of all, was the fact that she appeared to be entirely made of water.

Rukia was the first to break their silence. "Are you… an elemental spirit?" she asked, apparently in awe.

"_I'm a water spirit, though this should be obvious enough._"

"What're you doing here?" Ichigo asked bluntly.

"_Ichigo Kurosaki… I came to inform you that your cousin has been injured while battling a powerful arrancar named Striker, who was one of the leaders behind this attack._"

"Amicus is hurt? How bad? Will he be alright?"

"_Fear not, young soul reaper. Though he was severely beaten, Lieutenant Rhodes arrived in time to save your cousin. She brought him to Kisuke Urahara, where he will be treated._"

"Thanks for telling me," Ichigo said, before dashing off towards the Urahara shop.

"_Before I depart…_" The unnamed water spirit moved towards Orihime and gently placed a hand on the orange haired girl's broken arm. The water which composed the spirit's arm slid down Orihime's, surrounding it for a few short seconds, until her cast suddenly broke in two and popped off, at which the water slid back to reform the spirit's limb. "_There, good as new._"

"Thank you, miss water spirit," she said gratefully, feeling that her arm was injury free.

"_You're very welcome, dear. Now, if you'll excuse me, I shall take my leave._" The unnamed water spirit then floated away towards the river, leaving them behind.

* * *

Inside the room where Gale and Cyborg were lying unconscious, Kisuke and his associates, along with Ryu, had set up another four mats in anticipation of the other titans' arrival, while Shelliane was still looking over her nephew. Not so long after they were done, a tan skinned, purple haired woman with black, skin tight pants and an orange shirt walked into the room. She was carrying Raven on one shoulder and Starfire on the other, with the both of them being unconscious. "Ah, Yoruichi, please set our friends down here," he greeted the woman, indicating two of the empty mats.

Yoruichi complied with this, gently setting them down on one of the mattresses each. "Funny how this came about," she commented as Tessai moved next to Starfire in order to examine her, while Kisuke did the same for Raven. "I actually met an earth spirit, who came and told me about these two being knocked out because of a fight, and that I should bring them here. She also said that another one was going to get in touch with a few other people who'd be taking care of Robin and Beast Boy."

"We had a wind spirit who came by here earlier and told us about that," Shelliane said.

"And that's not the only weird thing that happened," Ryu noted. He then explained to the rest of them about what he'd seen of Cyborg's fight against Kareem, though he mostly focussed on the half-metal teen's discovery of his own spiritual powers, and the impressive abilities he'd displayed.

"I guess at least one of those bracelets of yours worked," Yoruichi noted to Kisuke.

"Cyborg's spiritual powers sound somewhat similar to Chad and his arm," Kisuke spoke. "I wonder if any of the others awakened powers of their own. I suppose we'll just have to wait until they wake up."

"Be careful with him, you clumsy baboon," Toshiro's voice was heard coming towards the room. "He's seriously injured."

"Yes sir," Renji replied. A moment later and the door slid open, showing Toshiro, carrying Robin, and Renji carrying a wounded Beast Boy. The two soul reapers were made to set them down gently on the remaining mats. Seeing the green shape-shifter's condition, and having taken care of Gale's more serious injuries, Shelliane moved from her nephew towards Beast Boy, hands glowing with the magic of healing kido.

The soul reaper lieutenant and captain took a short moment to relate to the others how they'd each been approached by an elemental spirit and pointed in Robin and Beast Boy's direction, with instructions to bring them back to the Urahara shop. "This boy with wings…" Toshiro muttered, looking at Gale. "I can sense he's the one with the mysterious spiritual pressure that appeared earlier. And the others… they all have very high spirit energy as well."

"Wow, I wouldn't have thought that the Teen Titans all had this much spirit energy," Renji said. "Beast Boy and Robin must have encountered an arrancar, but did the same happen to all of them?"

"Is it possible they have spiritual powers of their own, like Chad and Orihime?" Toshiro asked Kisuke.

"I'm not quite sure," the blond man answered. "I've actually had the opportunity to speak with most of them earlier this day, and learned that they'd encountered and defeated hollows already. Plus, they all have impressive powers and skills of their own, so it's not really inconceivable that they would've been able to fight against arrancars. Perhaps they'll agree to tell us what happened once they-"

"Where is he?" Ichigo demanded as he barged into the room, pulling the door open hard enough so that it cracked a little.

"Ichigo, take it easy on my poor little door," Kisuke half whined. The orange haired simply ignored him and went straight to Gale.

"Don't worry," Shelliane reassured him as she continued to work on Beast Boy's wounds. "He took a major beating, but given time, he will be alright."

Ichigo sighed in relief. "What about his friends?"

"Robin, Starfire and Cyborg are doing fine, they're just tired," Kisuke told him. "Raven's a little worse off, but she appears to be healing herself, so she'll be alright. As for Beast Boy… it looks like he took a cero at close range. He and our winged friend appear to have been hit with the worst of things, so it'll take them a while before they wake up."

"Ichigo… how do you know this boy?" Toshiro asked, a curious look on his face.

Before he would answer, Orihime, Rangiku and Rukia came into the room. "Ichigo?" Orihime spoke up as they noticed all the Titans. "I thought your cousin was injured and brought here, but I don't see him. And why are the Teen Titans all lying down here?"

The substitute soul reaper looked at Shelliane for a moment before she nodded at him. "I suppose you might as well know. Gale is Amicus, and he's my cousin."

"But when we met him, your cousin didn't have any spiritual pressure at all," Rangiku pointed out. "And he's got tons of it right now."

Ichigo then started to relate to them what Gale had said during his second visit, from his talk with Nebula, to his being able to turn into a spirit form and back, and how he'd concealed his and Raven's true appearances with illusions. Rukia explained her theory about how Gale's body acted like a gigai that completely supressed his spiritual pressure, and Shelliane told them what little she knew about his father, as well as the little she'd seen of his fight against Striker. Silence reigned in the room for a few moments, those who hadn't heard these things before digesting this latest bit of information. "I think this merits contacting the Soul Society and giving a report about the Titans," Toshiro noted. "I find Amicus' powers particularly interesting, as well as his connection to elemental spirits. I wish we could talk to the Titans, so they could give us their account of what happened tonight."

"Unfortunately, they're all unconscious and won't be waking up just yet," Shelliane reminded him. "You might be able to question Robin, Starfire, Raven or Cyborg before long, but Beast boy and Gale are the worst off, so it'll take them the longest before they come to. Now, we have patients to attend to, so everyone except for Kisuke and Tessai, get out."

* * *

As Robin's eyes opened, the first thing that caught his attention was how strange the sky looked, reason being that it was red, green, yellow, white, and looked like the roof of a circus tent. The Boy Wonder looked up and saw that he was sitting with his back against a large pole planted in the ground, with a trapeze platform up high. He got to his feet and looked around, noting that his surroundings appeared to be a giant, endless circus tent as far as his eyes could see. "Where am I?" he wondered in confusion. As he continued looking around, Robin could not see anyone other than himself, until he caught sight of a humanoid figure standing up high on one of the trapeze platforms. "Hey!" he called out.

The figure in question suddenly leapt off the platform, spreading out his arms and gliding down, landing smoothly in front of the Titans' leader. Robin's eyes widened a little under his mask, reason being that standing before him was a humanoid male falcon, with black feathers around his head, back, and white/black feathers on the rest of his body. "**Greetings, young master.**"

"You… you're that voice I heard before," Robin said. "When Beast Boy and I were fighting Xabat."

"**The one speaking to you back then was indeed yours truly.**"

"I'm still not sure I understand all this. After I tapped into your power, Xabat said my spiritual pressure was like that of a soul reaper, so from what I can remember of what Yoruichi and Kisuke said, that would make you my zanpakuto, right?" The humanoid falcon nodded his head in confirmation. "But if both my parents were humans, which I'm pretty sure of, and if I didn't die or anything, which I'm hoping isn't the case, then how did I get the power of a soul reaper in the first place?"

"**I will admit it's very rare for someone to have soul reaper powers outside of traditional circumstances. In your case, the training you went through with the True Master did help, as well as the bracelet given to you by Kisuke Urahara, but I believe that the real driving force was sheer willpower.**"

"Okay… so what is this place?"

"**This is your inner world, the place within yourself where I reside.**" The zanpakuto spirit closed its eyes and remained quiet for a moment, until it decided to speak up again. "**You will soon be waking up in the real world. Before that happens, you must know that without the proper training, you will be unable to use my power whenever you wish for it. You might be able to use your soul reaper powers to a certain extent, but they will generally remain out of reach except in times of dire need.**"

"Alright then, I'll be sure to remember that. Before I wake up for real, I don't suppose you could tell me your name?"

The spirit smiled a little and chuckled at the question. "**All in due time, young master. All in due time…**"

* * *

When Robin's eyes fluttered open this time, he saw the interior of the room of Kisuke's shop where he and his friends had been taken. Feeling fully awake, he sat upright, catching the attention of the only person in the room who was already awake, that being Shelliane. The woman in question was in her gigai and had been sitting on a cushion in the corner while reading a book. "Good, you're finally awake," she noted, setting aside her book and walking over to him.

"Who are you?" Robin asked. "You look just like my friend's mother."

"I'm Kelly Rhodes' twin sister," she answered smoothly. "My name is Shelliane, soul reaper and lieutenant of squad 13. So, how are you feeling?"

"To tell you the truth, I feel perfectly fine." Robin then looked around, seeing all his friends who were lying down. "What happened to them? I remember we were fighting these guys who had the same kind of spirit energy as hollows, then Gale left to fight another one and… Beast Boy!"

"Don't worry," Shelliane reassured him. "He was badly injured when he got here, but I've healed him up, and he'll be alright. He just needs to rest a while longer."

Raven, Cyborg and Starfire started to stir and wake up just as Tessai was walking in with a tray holding two mugs of tea. "Oh, you're awake, young sir," he noted, offering a mug to Shelliane and giving to Robin the one he'd meant for himself. "And I see your friends are waking up as well. I'll go tell the boss and bring some more tea." Tessai then turned around and walked out to find the shop owner and fetch more tea for the Titans. Shortly after, just as Raven, Cyborg and Starfire were sitting up, Tessai returned, with a bunch of extra cups filled with steaming hot tea and Kisuke following behind him.

"Greetings, my American friends," Kisuke said to them as Tessai went around with his little tray. "Welcome, once again, to my humble little shop. How are you all doing on this fine morning?"

"How long have I been out?" Cyborg asked.

"You've all been unconscious for a little over a day. Now, last night there was a band of arrancars that came to Karakura Town," Kisuke addressed the Titans. "For those of you who don't know, they're hollows who've removed parts of their masks in order to gain the powers of a soul reaper. Often enough they look human, and have a hole somewhere in their body, along with a partial mask. You all possess impressive spiritual pressure, which would bring about the attention of any hollow or arrancar. So, with that said, were any of you attacked last night?"

Robin started by explaining how he, Gale and Beast Boy had been attacked by two arrancars, how they'd beaten one of them, and Gale having separated once Striker appeared. Raven and Starfire then confirmed that they'd also been attacked, and Cyborg did the same after them. In return, Tessai explained how they'd all gotten to be in his shop, and reassured them that despite still being knocked out, that Gale and Beast Boy would be okay. "About the bracelet you gave me…" Robin spoke up to Kisuke, holding up his wrist, showing that the bracelet was a deep red, instead of its previous dull gray color.

"Mine has changed as well," Starfire said, after noticing that hers had become stark white.

"Yeah, and mine too," Cyborg added, showing his now dark blue bracelet.

"Mine's still normal," Raven held out hers. "And it looks like Beast Boy's the same."

"Ah yes, I thought this might happen," the blond shopkeeper admitted. "Those bracelets do keep the bearer invisible to anyone without enough spiritual awareness, but if the one wearing it has dormant spiritual powers… well, let's just say it gives a little nudge to help bring them out. And in the event that its bearer does develop spiritual powers, then the bracelet will change color depending on their nature."

"You must know what happened for me since you and Ryu weren't far from my fight," Cyborg said to Shelliane, who nodded in confirmation. The cybernetic teenager then explained a little further in detail what had happened, with Kareem assuming his release form, the sudden surge of energy he'd felt just before the cero that would have otherwise finished him off, the light that had surrounded him and transformed into his armor and so on. When he was done recounting his point of view, they all turned their attention towards Robin, who apparently felt trusting enough to tell them what had happened, in the same manner as Cyborg had, safe that he left out the personal conversation he'd had with his zanpakuto before waking up.

When he was done, Starfire and Raven told them more of their battle, including when Nacyl and Lycan had turned into the creature, but only up to the moment where Raven had been knocked down onto the rooftop and it had grabbed a hold of Starfire. "Unfortunately," the alien girl spoke up. "I fear that the space between this moment and the end of the battle is a blur to me."

Raven then cleared her throat. "Let's just say you developed peculiar powers, then defeated their release form without breaking a sweat." Although there was obviously more to it than just that, no one voiced their thoughts on the subject.

"I think it might be best if we withheld this information from the Soul Society, at least for the time being," Kisuke advised them. "I don't think Cyborg's powers would cause any problems, but they're still kind of prickly about humans having soul reaper powers."

"They may find out eventually, but hopefully by that time we can persuade them to be more lenient," Tessai added.

"Right then," Robin said, nodding in agreement. "Well, we might as well get back to the hotel for now."

"You guys go on," Raven spoke up. "I'll just stay here for a while longer."

"It wouldn't happen to be because you want to look over Gale?" Cyborg said, his tone and expression suggestive.

"Yes," she answered simply.

"Okay," Robin said. "Call us if you need us."

* * *

Over in Hueco Mundo, Striker was currently walking through the halls of Las Noches. After having returned to the palace, Kaname Tosen had brought the two of them before Aizen himself. However, when 'Lord Aizen' had noticed the state that Striker's clothes were in, out of curiosity he had inquired as to what had happened. Striker had answered by merely saying that he'd encountered a surprisingly powerful foe. Then, not out of fear for any punishment, the arrancar in question had requested that he be allowed to retire to his quarters, so that he could 'recover', where in truth he only wanted to heal his burned arm, get a new outfit, and have time to think about his battle against Gale.

As he was making his way towards the throne room, where Aizen was waiting for him, Striker crossed another arrancar in the hallway. This one was tall and lanky, with black hair, a patch over his left eye, and was dressed in white, but with an open jacket and what looked like a strange, oversized collar sticking up behind his head. "And where are you heading to, Striker?" he asked, grinning.

"What do you care, Nnoitra?"

"I heard that you're in trouble for going off to the world of the living against Aizen's orders." Striker merely gave the black haired arrancar an annoyed look. "I also heard that all of your fracciones were killed in Karakura. Someone's not going to be happy about losing so many arrancars."

"I have to go see Aizen. Now get out of the way."

"You know Grimmjow got his arm chopped off and incinerated by Tosen," Nnoitra said offhandedly. "I wonder what kind of punishment you're going to get for what you did."

"Nnoitra… move."

"You know what's even more pathetic? I heard Ichimaru saying something about how you got beat up by some-" Deciding that he'd had enough, Striker suddenly slammed a fist into the other arrancar's face, sending him careening down the hall.

In the throne room, three men were waiting for Striker to come and give his report about what had happened during the attack on Karakura Town. Aizen, a man with short brown hair and wearing a white trench coat with a purple obi/sash around his waist, was sitting on the throne in a relaxed manner. At his left stood Gin, and at his right stood Kaname Tosen, a dark skinned man with black hair, wearing a sleeveless white trench coat and a blindfold over his eyes. The sounds of violence could be heard from the hallway, although none of them showed any particular reaction to it. A few moments later, Nnoitra came flying into the throne room and crashed into the wall opposite the entrance. Striker walked in a moment later, dusting off his sleeves. Aizen looked at the two new arrivals, raising an eyebrow in question. "Sorry about that," Striker said in an unconcerned tone. "Nnoitra apparently thought it would be a good idea to mess with me. It took a few seconds to prove him wrong."

"Very well then," Aizen said in a calm voice. "Nnoitra, I strongly suggest that you leave us be, so that Striker may give us his report."

"Of course, Lord Aizen," the arrancar in question said as he got to his feet. He then walked away, though not without giving Striker a vicious grin, despite the beating he'd suffered at his hands.

"Striker Williams…" Aizen spoke up again. "Would you please tell us what happened last night in Karakura Town? And spare no details, if possible."

Striker then placed his fingers to the black skull face on his tiara like mask remnant. When he pulled his hand back, a dark purple, almost black, mist like substance came out. He blew it towards the three former soul reapers, and it flew around them, showing images of his fracciones fighting against Ryu and Shelliane, as well as their fights against the Titans, which the tree former soul reapers seemed more interested in. When that was done, the mist flew back to Striker, who waved his hand, causing it to change into a crimson color and fly back to repeat the procedure, except that it showed them his own memories of the previous night's events. "Well, this is all very interesting…" Gin noted.

"My lord," Tosen spoke up. "He should still be severely punished for his actions. He disobeyed your orders and…"

"Calm down, Kaname," Aizen said. "Striker has brought us some particularly interesting information. Given that, I think we can forgive him for this transgression."

"As you wish, Lord Aizen."

"I must say, these children and their powers are quite impressive," Aizen commented. "And one of them is Ichigo Kurosaki's cousin, as well as an elemental of great power, with an apparent connection to the Soul Society. Most interesting indeed… I think I'd like to observe these children to learn more of them."

"Whatever happens to the winged boy, I still want to have my revenge on him for killing me back when I was alive."

"As I said, my intent is simply to observe him and his friends," Aizen reassured him. "I'll let you know before any further action is taken against them."

"Thank you… my lord."

* * *

Later in the day, around evening time, Raven was kneeling down beside Gale, occasionally passing a hand over his body to make sure that he was alright. She turned around when she heard the door sliding open and Kisuke walked in. "Would you like anything to eat?" he asked. "Tessai has some food cooked up if you want any. I can keep an eye on your friends if you'd like."

"Sure, thanks," the teenage heroine said, standing up and walking towards the door. "Tell me if he wakes up, will you?"

"Of course," he nodded to her as she walked out, closing the door behind her. "Good to see you're awake," he said to Beast Boy when he noticed the green teenager had rolled onto his back and sat up right.

"Hey dude. You mind telling me what I'm doing here anyway?" Kisuke then started to explain everything to him about how he and Robin had been brought to his shop following their fight against Xabat. He then filled him in on the parts of the fight that he'd missed after being knocked out as well as his friend's battles, and how Shelliane had healed his injuries. "Are the others okay?"

"No need to worry," he reassured him. "Gale's just unconscious, but he should be coming around soon enough. And the others are all fine and well."

"That's a relief. Say, you got anything to eat?"

"Tessai made some food if you're hungry. Just head down the hall and follow the smell."

"Thanks…" Beast Boy said, standing up and walking out to get food to satisfy his rumbling stomach.

Kisuke turned his attention towards Gale once the green Titan had left the room. "You really are an interesting case, Amicus Rhodes," he muttered as he knelt down next to the unconscious Titan. You can control air itself, elemental spirits call you 'lord' and run around to help your friends, and like Ichigo, you have incredible power, but seem to have not yet reached your full potential." He then pulled back the blanket just enough to be able to look at the mark on Gale's bare chest. "How peculiar… this looks as though it represents the four elements together, like that children's tale about the Soul Society's creation. I wonder if there are others like him."

Upon hearing him mutter strange words, the blond haired shopkeeper placed the palm of his hand to the winged boy's forehead to be sure that he didn't have a fever, or anything of the sort. However, when his hand touched Gale's head, Kisuke found himself assaulted by a barrage of memories that belonged to neither of them. He saw three humanoid figures standing close together as they exerted their wills over earth, fire and water, while he moved air. He saw great battles in both the world of the living and the Soul Society, watching them while floating above. He witnessed cataclysmic forces of nature at work, some of which were his fault, observed the birth of beasts, spirits, gods, demons, new lands, the Soul Society and Hell, amongst other things, and even caught a few glimpses of his own life through the eyes of the one whose memories he was seeing. All this and a mass of other visions flashed through his head, until it suddenly switched to Gale's battle against Striker, which Kisuke saw through the winged boy's eyes.

"Wow… that was unexpected…" he stated to himself. At that time, Gale stirred a little and his eyes stared to flutter open. "Wakey, wakey, little bird," Kisuke said in a sing-song voice as he took notice. Having been in a fierce battle not so long ago, Gale's sleep addled mind had not entirely adjusted, and therefore was unprepared for the sight of the sandy haired shop keeper leaning over him. "Time to-" Gale's instinctively lashed out with his powers, blasting the shop keeper off his feet and sending him on a flight that ended with him crash-landing into the room where Raven, Beast Boy, Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu were sitting around a table and eating. "… I think your friend's awake now," he said to the two Titans. Just as he said that, Raven immediately jumped to her feet and quickly ran off towards where Gale was. Beast Boy stayed in his place, deciding to wait and give his two friends some time alone.

Arriving at the room, the young sorceress walked through the remains of what was once a sliding door, her gaze locking onto her friend, who was sitting upright and wearing his shirt again and having reverted from his spirit form back to his regular body. Raven walked over so that she was next to Gale, kneeled down and threw her arms around him in a hug. The two of them remained like this for a moment, neither saying a word, simply remaining in their embrace. "Are you feeling alright?" Raven finally spoke up.

"A little sore, but nothing major," he answered. "What about you?"

"I'm fine, don't worry." The two of them then told each other a bit about what had happened from their own ends during the arrancar attack.

"I gave it absolutely everything I had, and it still wasn't enough," Gale said, describing his fight against Striker. "That bastard killed my mother and barred her soul from passing on, and I could barely lay a scratch on him. I've never felt so helpless in my life."

"It's okay Amicus, you're still alive, we're all here for you," Raven reassured him.

"Rachel… I'm really sorry I got angry at you before. I shouldn't have called you a name like that, especially since I should've known it would hurt. You didn't deserve it at all."

"You didn't deserve for me to get angry at you either. I'm the one who started it by acting mean to you. I was just jealous of how close Rangiku was to you and… I hope you can forgive me."

"Of course I forgive you. I just hope you can do the same for me."

Raven smiled warmly at this. "I do." She leaned forward a little and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. They then both got up and walked back to the room where the others were waiting.

"What kept you so long?" Beast Boy asked, a slight grin on his face. "Is it possible that you two were-?"

"Shut up," Gale shot back at him.

"Hello, I'm Kisuke Urahara," the sandy haired shop keeper introduced himself.

"You're that guy who was leaning over me when I woke up."

"Yes, and if I had known how you were going to react, I would not have done that."

"Sorry, reflexes and all that."

"That's okay." The others then gave him a general overview of everything he'd missed, along with a round of introductions from Kisuke and his associates. "Although the Soul Society has been informed about your team's potential, we've withheld information about your friends' having spiritual powers. They'll probably want to talk to you all, whenever possible, to know about what happened from your end during the attack two nights ago. You should be aware that since Aizen probably knows about your existence, he may send more hollows or arrancars to test you, or something of the sort. And from the sounds of it, that arrancar Striker will surely be coming for you again." Kisuke said the last part while looking directly at Gale. "And if he does…"

"Then we'll deal with him together," Beast Boy jumped in. "After all, we're the Teen Titans. Anyway, thanks for the food, and taking care of us when we were knocked out."

"Thanks," Raven said as they were getting up.

"Could I just have a word with you for a moment?" Kisuke asked Gale.

"Sure." The others all walked out of the room. "Well, what is it?" Kisuke told the winged titan about the burst of memories he'd seen earlier, including the ones that actually belonged to Gale. "… What does that mean?" he asked when the shop keeper was finished talking.

"Have you heard the story of how the Soul Society was supposedly created?"

"Yeah, Rukia told me about it."

"Well, it seems like the one whom those memories belonged to was rather ancient. And then there's the fact that you speak freely with elemental spirits, they run around when you need them, and you have the ability to control air to such levels as I've never seen. And to my understanding, you never knew your father, yes?" Gale simply nodded in confirmation. "My theory is that your father was a powerful spirit of air, and that he was one of four who created the Soul Society."

"I guess that makes sense," Gale said, a contemplative expression on his face. "That could explain why I felt some sort of connection with Terra, and with Aqualad. Maybe they had a parent who was an elemental spirit, like my father. But there are still a lot of things I don't understand."

"Unfortunately, that's all I can come up with for now."

"I'll live with that. Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome. Just one last piece of advice… That eagle you summoned, the bond it shares with you is not entirely unlike that of a soul reaper and zanpakuto. And a bond such as that always makes the two more powerful when they fight as one." Though Gale had a somewhat confused look on his face at this, he nevertheless gave Kisuke a short bow, before walking outside, joining up with his friends and leaving the small shop behind.

* * *

Beast Boy, Raven and Gale flew from the Urahara shop, heading towards the hotel they were booked at. After a not so long flight, the three of them landed on the roof of the hotel, and made their way inside, eventually arriving walking into the suite where their friends were waiting. "Hey guys, you're alright," Cyborg noted, seeing that Beast Boy and Gale had recovered well.

"How are you feeling?" Starfire asked.

"I'm fine," Beast Boy said. "And I'm sure Gale is too, especially with how Raven was taking such good care of him," he added with a grin. The sorceress in question blushed a little bit in embarrassment at the attention this drew from her friends.

"Dare I ask?" Robin inquired, an eyebrow raised in question.

"Please don't," she answered.

"So… I understand the rest of you guys got stuck fighting arrancars," Gale spoke up, trying to break the awkward moment. "How'd that turn out?"

"Apparently, all of our fights seemed to go along the lines of us laying a smack down on the bad guys, then the bad guys releasing their true power and beating us up until one of us suddenly got spiritual powers and finished them off," Cyborg explained. "My cybernetics turned into some kind of magic armor that could turn parts of itself into whatever kind of weapon I needed."

"I discovered I have the powers of a soul reaper," Robin filled in. "I don't know the name of my zanpakuto, but when I turned into my soul reaper form, my staff changed into a katana, I could move really fast, and I felt stronger too."

"What about you?" Gale asked Starfire.

"Unfortunately, I do not know," she said. "All I remember is a great anger, darkness… and that is all. Raven has said that I gained strange powers and defeated our enemy with ease, but nothing more."

"I didn't want to say in front of the others what'd happened, but I guess it's only fair that you know," Raven said as they turned their attention towards her. "You had hollow powers." The others, Starfire in particular, had various expressions of surprise at this. "When you got angry, a white… substance, came from your mouth and formed a hollow mask over your face. Your aura was dark and felt like a hollow. Your eyes were red, instead of green, and so were your powers. You… weren't yourself, as if you had a dark side that had just come out. After you'd won, you went to attack me, but managed to stop, and I was able to pull the darkness out until you returned to normal."

"What could have caused me to act in such an evil manner?" Starfire asked, stunned at Raven's words.

"I think I know why," Robin spoke up. "You know that hollow we fought against, not so long after we all left Ichigo's house?" The alien girl nodded in confirmation at this. "When you finished it off, it exploded and you were caught right in the blast. A part of that hollow must have latched onto you, then when you got angry enough, it would've 'activated'."

"I can still sense the darkness within you," Raven muttered. "It may not be active, but it's there."

"Our spiritual powers shouldn't come out unless we absolutely need them," Robin said. "So we won't be able to just bring them up whenever we want, but that means Starfire's darker half will remain dormant short of extreme circumstances."

Starfire let out a sigh of relief at this. "That is good to know."

"So what about you, man?" Cyborg asked Gale. "How did your fight go?"

Gale had a sullen look on his face. "You remember that time when I went nuts a few months back because I was sure I could see the guy who killed my mother?" The cybernetic teenager nodded. "Well, turns out that after he died, he became a hollow, and eventually an obscenely powerful arrancar."

"Was he really that strong?" Robin inquired. "I could sense he had pretty high spiritual pressure when he showed up, but yours wasn't anything to laugh at either."

"Let me put it this way. He was toying with me all along, and he still beat the crap out of me for practically the entire fight, and even when I hit him with my most powerful attack, I barely, and I do stress the word 'barely', put a scratch on him."

"Don't worry man," Cyborg spoke up. "If he ever tries to mess with you again, he'll be messing with all of us."

They then started to talk about what they would tell the Soul Society if they were asked about how their fights had gone. Given Kisuke's words about how the Soul Society might react, they decided that it would be best to find a way to avoid telling them about their spiritual powers. As they were talking, Gale suddenly held his hand up to silence everyone. "I hear something…" He then concentrated for a moment, until a tendril of air stretched out and opened the window. "You know, it's generally considered impolite to eavesdrop on others." A simple black cat dropped down onto the window sill and walked into the room.

"Greetings, Yoruichi," Starfire said to the cat.

"Good to see you all."

"Why do you sound like a male cat anyway?" Gale asked.

"What're you talking about?" Beast Boy inquired. "What else would Yoruichi sound like?"

"If you're confused, then I can demonstrate my true f-"

"No!" Gale said sharply. "Ichigo's warned me about you, so don't even think about it."

"You're such a prude," Yoruichi whined, sounding a little disappointed.

The other Titans looked at their winged friend with confusion at this. "Yoruichi's a woman who can turn into a cat," he explained. "According to Ichigo, she has very little modesty, and can't keep her clothes on when she transforms."

"Oooooohhhhh," Beast Boy said, feeling a little embarrassed as he understood.

"So… what did you want anyway?"

"Well, the Soul Society wanted to talk to you guys, so if you don't mind following me, then that would be great."

"Sure, lead the way."

* * *

The Titans all flew out the window, with Starfire carrying Robin, while Cyborg was riding on the back of a pterodactyl Beast Boy, along with Yoruichi who was giving them directions for where to go. In order to avoid attracting too much attention, Gale cast an illusion in order to make them all invisible. After a while, they finally arrived at a simple, yet decent looking place that Yoruichi told them was their destination. Robin knocked at the door, and Orihime came answering a moment later. The bubbly, orange haired girl blinked a few times, surprised to see them, until she noticed Yoruichi. "Hello, Orihime," the black cat spoke up. "Would you mind letting us in?"

"Of course, of course," she said, moving aside so that they could enter, closing the door behind them. "Wow, you're the Teen Titans. I'm Orihime Inoue. It's nice to meet you all!"

"Thank you very much," Starfire replied in an equally cheery tone. Orihime lead the Titans and Yoruichi upstairs to a room with what looked like a huge television screen that filled the far wall. Inside the room were all the members of the soul reaper taskforce who were waiting for them.

"I'm Toshiro Hitsugaya, captain of squad ten and head of the soul reaper taskforce," the short, white haired captain introduced himself. "This is Renji Abarai, Ikkaku Madarame, Yumichika Ayasegawa, Rangiku Matsumoto, Rukia Kuchiki, Shelliane Rhodes, and Ryu Yamada."

"I'm Robin, leader of the Teen Titans," the Boy Wonder answered. "These are my teammates, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Gale, Raven and Starfire."

"I've got a question," Gale spoke up. "Why isn't Ichigo here?"

"We don't know," Toshiro answered. "None of us have seen him since the attack. In any case, with introductions out of the way, Head Captain Yamamoto would like to speak with you." The screen on the wall suddenly flickered and came to life, showing an old man dressed in a soul reaper's garb, with a white haori over his shoulders, a long white beard and moustache and his hands resting on a big wooden staff.

"Greetings," the old man spoke in a deep and powerful voice. "I am Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Head Captain of the thirteen court guard squads. Which one of you is the leader of your band of heroes?"

"That would be me," Robin said, taking a step forward.

"I have been informed of your team, and their abilities, as well as the fact that each of you has fought various arrancars recently, and in most cases, defeated them. I must commend you for your efforts in helping us deal with such a threat."

"Thank you."

"Now, the one in charge of those arrancars is a former soul reaper captain known as Sosuke Aizen."

"Yeah, we know about him," Cyborg pointed out. "Kisuke told us about the situation with him and the other two traitors."

"Yes, but you do not know everything yet. You see, the Soul Society has a ruler, the Spirit King, who lives in a separate dimension that can only accessed with the use of an artifact called the Oken. Aizen intends to access the Spirit King's dimension and kill him. To do this, he needs to create an Oken, which requires one mile of highly enriched spiritual ground in the world of the living, as well as 100000 human souls. In other words, if his plan succeeds, Karakura Town will be wiped out from existence." The Titans gasped in surprise at the revelation.

"We've gone against so major bad guys, but this is crazy!" Beast Boy exclaimed.

"Fortunately, Aizen will need time before he can move into action," Yamamoto continued. "We predict he won't make his move until four months from now. However, I believe that all of you have most likely caught his attention, and therefore, you should be ready in case he decides to take action again your team."

"We will," Robin said, a determined look on his face.

"One more thing… In regards to the battles you fought against Aizen's arrancars, I must ask how you managed to achieve victory." At this, the Titans began to tell the story that they'd agreed on, were they described some of their fights. Since he technically had no spiritual powers like his friends, Gale revealed a little more of his battle against Striker, including the giant eagle of air he had summoned, though he omitted the little conversation he'd held with Kisuke. The others all refrained from telling the entire truth, while still saying enough of it to satisfy the head captain.

"We'll have to go back home in a couple days," Robin reminded everyone. "But we should be able to help out when Aizen does make his move."

"Very good," the head captain said, nodding slowly. He then turned his attention towards Gale. "Amicus Rhodes…"

"Yes?"

"There is someone who wishes to speak with you alone."

"But I don't know anyone from the Soul Society except for my aunt Shelly," Gale said, a look of confusion on his face. "And she's standing right here."

"You should talk to her, Amicus," Shelliane spoke up.

"Okay then." Everyone else then walked out of the room, leaving him alone facing the screen. That done, Yamamoto moved aside and someone else took his place. The one in question was a beautiful woman with long black hair tied into a braid hanging down in front of her. She had perfectly smooth skin, a kind, motherly face, and was wearing a soul reaper's clothes, along with a captain's haori overtop. Gale expression's changed to surprise upon seeing her.

"Hello Amicus," she said in a soft voice.

"You look just like my mother. That must mean you're…"

"Yes, I'm your grandmother, Retsu Unohana. And you would be Kelly's son."

"Umm, grandma… can I call you that?" he asked, at which she nodded. "I just want to know… Why did you come to the world of the living, and how did you get to meet my grandfather?"

"It started during a particularly busy day in squad four's infirmary. For one reason or another, we had an almost ridiculous amount of patients to attend to. In any case, as a result, a few days later Head Captain Yamamoto ordered me to take a year's vacation in the world of the living. So I followed his order and left the Soul Society. At the time, your grandfather was a young American graduate working at the University of Tokyo. By string of chance, we met soon after my arrival and ended up living together. He was a great man, very kind, selfless and rather charming. We quickly grew attached to each other, and although we couldn't have married, I soon became pregnant with Masaki."

"Did you ever tell him you were a soul reaper?" Gale inquired.

"Yes, but it was only until Masaki was born that I told him I was soon to leave. Even so, he still remained understanding and promised never to forget me, despite the fact that we were to never meet again." Retsu had a sad, nostalgic look on her face, but continued nonetheless. "And yet, sometime after returning to the Soul Society, I discovered that I'd already become pregnant again. When your mother and Shelliane were born, I went to the world of the living once more and left them both in the care of your grandfather, with a note to explain everything."

"Why did you do that?"

"Because… as hard as it was, I wanted them to have a normal life, which I couldn't give them if they stayed in the Soul Society." The two of them spent a good amount of time talking, mostly about Gale's life, from his early childhood with his mother, the day that she'd died and he'd run away, a few pieces of the years he'd wandered alone, and his living with the Titans.

"I swear I'll find a way to become stronger, so I can avenge my mother the next time I see him," Gale said in relation to his encounter with Striker.

"Your loyalty and bravery are quite admirable," Retsu noted. "You're a lot like Ichigo in that sense. Now, about that teammate of yours, the one named Raven… She sounds like an impressive young woman. The two of you must be very close friends."

The winged boy's cheeks became a little red at this. "Umm… yeah…"

The motherly captained smiled knowingly as she saw his reaction. "Tell me, do you like her?"

Gale's face reddened even more. "Umm… maybe, sort of, a little…" He looked at his grandmother's face, seeing that she didn't exactly look convinced by his answer. "Okay fine, I'll admit, I like her a lot."

"You should tell her that. I'm sure she'd appreciate it, and return your feelings."

"I'll… think about it, for now."

"Very well, but try not to take too long."

"I'll try."

"You should go. Your friends will be waiting. Good bye now, Amicus."

"Goodbye, grandma."

* * *

Gale and Raven ended up spending a fair bit of the following day together. At noontime, they flew over to the house that Ryu and Shelliane shared, and at the latter's insistence, stayed for lunch, which gave Gale a chance to catch up with his aunt. During the course of their stay there, Gale and Raven nearly suffered a moment of noteworthy embarrassment due to suggestions of them being a couple and such, but left before it got too bad. Following this, the two Titans flew around for a while, stopping a few times so that the winged boy could perform konso on a couple of lingering souls.

Eventually, they found a nice, secluded place just on the outskirts of town, where they decided to sit down and meditate. "You look like you've got something on your mind," Raven said after a while. "Care to share it with me?" He then took a moment to explain about the giant eagle of air, and what Kisuke had said about the bond it shared with him, along with the part about his father. "It's great that you finally know something about your father."

"Yeah, but I just can't help thinking that there's more to him than that."

"Don't worry, Amicus, I'm sure you'll get your answers someday," she reassured him with a smile.

"Thanks Rachel," he said, smiling back.

"About this eagle of air, I've never seen you summon it before. Do you think you could…?"

"Sure, if you want to. Just give me a moment." Gale then concentrated and focused his powers. The air around them rippled and moved about strangely, until the giant eagle of air appeared above. It flapped its wings a few times, before touching down right beside them.

"Wow…" Raven said, fascinated by the majestic creature. "It's beautiful."

'Not as beautiful as you,' Gale thought, mentally slapping himself for thinking this. "You can touch him if you want. He'll only go away if he's hit with something big, or if I let him go." The young sorceress reached out and stroked the eagle's neck.

"Kisuke said the bond between you two was like a soul reaper and zanpakuto, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"And from what your aunt told me, a zanpakuto is a manifestation of a soul reaper's power."

"Uh huh…"

"I can sense that there is a part of you imprinted onto him. From what I can tell, theoretically, you should be able to join with him to become more powerful, sort of like how our team is stronger when we're all together."

Gale nodded absentmindedly, after which he allowed the eagle to fade away and turned to face his friend. "So… you wouldn't care to race, would you?"

"Sure. First one to reach the rest of the gang wins?"

"Bring it on."

* * *

In another corner of Karakura Town, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy were all hanging out in a park with a soccer field. At one point, a bunch of young kids came around, one of them carrying a soccer ball. A handful of them recognized the Titans and ran over towards them, along with most of their friends, saying how awesome it was to meet them, and how cool their fight against the giant ink monster in Tokyo had looked, and so on and so forth. Smiling a little at their eagerness, the Titans talked to the kids, answering their questions, asking what their names were, and giving a demonstration of their powers, or in Robin's case, his equipment. Karin, who was amongst the band of younger kids, then came up with the idea of having the Titans playing a game of soccer with them. Robin and Beast Boy joined in on the same team as Karin, while Starfire and Cyborg were on the opposite team. The game went on for a while, with both sides relatively equal, and the Titans holding back and little and making sure to include the others, though at one point, Starfire accidentally kicked the ball too hard, sending it flying up high into the air.

"I am deeply sorry for this," she said, apologizing to the others. "I would be happy to purchase another ball to replace this one."

"No need to worry about it," Karin reassured her. "That old ball was beaten up and almost worthless anyway. Ah well, I'd best be going home anyway. It was really fun playing with you guys." All the other kids all confirmed that they had also had fun playing, and soon cleared out, heading off to wherever they were going.

"Our team totally kicked your team's butt," the green titan boasted.

"Is that right?" Cyborg asked. "Because I'm thinking that-"

The half metal teenager was interrupted when Raven flew down and landed nearby, followed closely by Gale. The two of them appeared by be having some sort of argument, although it looked relatively docile. "I still say you didn't win fairly," the winged boy insisted.

"Hey, it's not like I threw that soccer ball at you," Raven shot back.

"You still deflected it so that it hit me in the head. That's not exactly what I'd call playing fair."

"We never said anything about playing fair in the first place. And if I remember, you repeatedly used your powers to get further head."

"I would like to point out that I wasn't even using my powers, I was just taking advantage of thermals to get a bit of a boost."

"You still started the race almost a second before me."

"… True enough," the winged boy admitted. "But I wasn't really trying as hard as I could have."

"Hey guys, what's up?" Robin spoke up, drawing their attention towards him.

"Just a friendly little competition to see who's the better flyer," Raven answered.

"Mostly friendly," Gale specified.

"Tell me friends, have you been having 'the fun' spending time together?" Starfire asked.

"Yeah, I think it was a pretty fun day so far," Raven said. "So, when are we going to go back home anyway?" she asked the team leader.

"We should be leaving sometime tomorrow," Robin answered. "After all, we've been away a while, so it'd be a good idea to get back soon in case anything comes up."

"Anyone got an idea what we should do now?" Beast Boy wondered.

"We could go over to my cousin's house to visit sometime," Gale suggested.

"I thought that Ichigo hadn't been seen for the past few days," Cyborg pointed out.

"Yeah, but my uncle should still be there, along with Karin, Yuzu, and probably Rukia as well."

"Sounds like a good idea," Robin said.

* * *

Later on, at the Kurosaki household, Yuzu, Karin, Isshin and Rukia were all gathered around the kitchen table. Isshin was acting a bit frantically, wondering where Ichigo could be, and thinking up strange scenarios of what could have happened to him.

"Come on, dad," Karin spoke up, tired of her father's behavior. "Ichigo can take care of himself. Most likely he just needed some time away from you and your crazy antics."

"But what about Amicus?" Yuzu piped up. "He hasn't come to see us in the past few days. I hope that he's alright."

"Don't worry about it," Rukia reassured her. "I'm sure that he's fine."

"That reminds me, I ran into his friends earlier today," Karin said. "I didn't get the chance to ask, but from how they were acting, I didn't get the impression that there was anything wrong."

The sound of someone knocking at the door was soon heard, at which Isshin jumped up and ran from the seat to open the door, seeing that the Titans were all gathered before him in their usual disguises, except for Raven, who was wearing civilian clothes, as opposed to having Gale put up an illusion. "Little Amicus!" Isshin exclaimed, almost throwing himself at his nephew in his hurry to give him a hug.

"I told you, I'm not so little anymore," Gale reminded his overbearing uncle. "And would you mind letting us in?"

"Of course, step right through," he beckoned them as he stood straight, closing the door once they were all inside.

A round of greetings passed between the Titans and the others, before they all found a spot to sit down and talk for a bit. The conversation quickly leaned towards the subject of Ichigo's whereabouts, and that nobody seemed to know where he was. They switched over to talking about the stuff in Tokyo, with Daizo, Brushogun and the ink creatures and all that. "Hey, Amicus," Karin spoke up after hearing of Robin and Starfire's relationship. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Umm… why do you ask?" Gale inquired.

"I'm just curious, that's all. So, do you have someone special?"

"Maybe…"

"Is it Raven?" Isshin asked eagerly, causing Gale and Raven to blush in response.

"We're not really together, if that's what you're asking," Raven said.

"But you two are practically-" Beast Boy began, but was interrupted when Gale formed a gag of air with his powers to shut him up.

"So you're not together then?" Yuzu asked, at which Raven and Gale nodded slowly, shooting a glare at their friends who were finding the situation amusing. "Well that's too bad, I think you two would make a cute couple."

Rukia's face suddenly lit up as an idea came into her head. "Starfire, Robin, can I have a word with you guys for a minute?" The two Titans in question had puzzled expressions on their faces at this, but still stood up to follow her. "And please don't listen in on us," she said to Gale.

"I won't." Robin and Starfire disappeared upstairs with Rukia to discuss whatever idea she had in mind. "I don't suppose any of you know what's up with her?" the winged boy asked his Kurosaki relatives, who shook their heads in response. A few minutes later, the three of them walked back down, smiling as if they were up to something.

"Friend Raven, we should go out together the two of us for an undetermined period of time to go see the sights."

"Oooookay," Raven said, finding something strange in all this, but complying nonetheless.

"Hey Gale, I was just thinking that I felt like going out too," Robin addressed his winged friend. "Why don't you come with me?"

"I'm not saying no, but any reason why you want be to tag along?" Gale asked cautiously

"Because if you don't come I'll see to it that you have to clean up Beast Boy's room when we get back."

"Let's go," Gale said immediately, ignoring the changeling's protest of indignation.

Rukia shot Beast Boy and Cyborg a look that told them to stay, and only relented once Robin, Gale, Raven and Starfire were out the door. "What was all that about?" the green shape-shifter spoke up.

"I needed to get the two of them away so that the rest of us can start on the plan I just came up with," Rukia answered. "And here's how it's going to work." After a few minutes of her explaining, the others were all smiling.

"I like it," Isshin exclaimed.

"Me too," Beast Boy said.

"Same here," Cyborg added.

"Good idea," Yuzu piped up.

"That's manipulative, devious, and potentially embarrassing," Karin commented. "… Let's do it."

* * *

"Why did Raven and I really have to be taken away from the house?" Gale asked Robin. The two of them were currently in disguise as they were walking along the streets.

"You'll see sometime after we get back," the Titans leader answered.

"I guess you're not to tell me, are you?"

"Not a chance."

Even though Gale couldn't help but wonder exactly what was going on, he nevertheless set it aside, and agreed to act the part of a tour guide for Robin, showing him what sights he remembered from the times he'd come to Karakura with his mother.

* * *

Over at their end, Raven and Starfire were walking along the streets with no particular destination in mind, both of them still in their respective civilian disguises. They looked around at different things as they went along, with the alien girl making an effort to keep her friend's mind focussed on the moment. However, it remained obvious enough to Raven that there was something going on, and even though she didn't think her friends would do anything dangerous, she couldn't help but wonder what they were up to. "Why don't we stop here for a moment?" Raven said, indicating a nearby café. "I think I'm feeling kind of hungry."

"Come now, surely we can wait a while longer," Starfire insisted, pulling her away. "Would you not prefer to avoid spoiling your appetite before dinner when you and…" The alien girl paused for a moment, as if she'd caught herself before spilling something she wasn't meant to. "I mean, when we shall all join together to eat before we must leave on the morrow." The young sorceress raised an eyebrow at her friend's words, but refrained from any questioning.

"Okay, you won't mind if we go here then?" she pointed to a small bookstore.

"Of course not. Let us enter the store of many books."

* * *

At the moment, inside the Kurosaki household was a veritable whirlwind of activity. "Beast Boy, I need you to chop these herbs for the sauce," Yuzu piped up. "Cyborg, put the cake batter in a pan when you're done stirring then stick it in the oven."

"Dad, go find those fancy napkins," Karin spoke to her father.

"I've got the red tablecloth," Rukia said, holding up a fancy looking, light red tablecloth. "But the table hasn't been wiped off yet." Beast Boy, who was in the form of an octopus in order to multitask, snatched a rag with an unoccupied tentacle and passed it to Karin after soaking it under water. The younger black haired girl took the rag and wiped off the table, then put it down on the counter and helped Rukia set the tablecloth.

"I've got the napkins, and I found some incense too," Isshin announced.

"Good, I'll roll them up and you go find candlesticks please," Rukia requested.

"Yuzu, where's the recipe for the icing?" Karin asked.

"Don't worry, I'm taking care of that," she answered. "Can you go find that music CD? It should be on my desk."

"Cake's in the oven," Cyborg noted. "But I don't know where the pots are."

"Look down in the second door at your left," Yuzu said.

"I'm done chopping up the sauce stuff," Beast Boy declared, having changed back into his normal self.

"Then pass it over to Yuzu and go to the freezer to get a bag of shrimp," Rukia instructed.

Isshin then walked into the kitchen again, carrying a set of elaborate matching candlesticks. "I've got the…" he began, but was interrupted when he tripped, the candlesticks flying out of his hands. One of them flew towards Karin, who was coming down the stairs, missing her by an uncomfortably small margin, while the other smacked Beast Boy in the head.

"Watch where you're going!" Karin exclaimed.

"Sorry, sorry!" Isshin apologized.

"Okay, let's just not have any more mishaps, and try to finish this before Robin and Starfire run out of ways to stall for time," Rukia spoke up, prompting them all to return to their various tasks.

* * *

After having wandered about for a while, the two boys stepped into a shop that had caught Robin's attention. The Boy Wonder looked around at the nun-chucks, staffs, and other such items gear, while Gale, though not into martial arts like his friend, found himself interested enough to look at some of the stuff there too. After a while of browsing around, and talking to a man in his forties who owned the shop, a beeping sound from the communicator in Robin's pocket prompted him to excuse himself, then grab Gale and walk out, heading towards Ichigo's house again. "Are you going to tell me what this is all about yet?" Gale asked.

"Sorry, but you'll have to wait until we get back."

"Is there anything you can tell me at all?"

"Odds are, you're going to be pretty surprised, but I promise it's all harmless, and you're probably going to like it in the end."

As the two of them kept walking, they just so happened to run into a gang of six men, two of which were the ones Gale had beaten up after his fight with Raven. "Oh great, these morons again," he muttered in English.

"Give us your money, and no one will get hurt," a guy with black hair wearing a red hoodie said, speaking Japanese.

"Look, guys," Robin replied. "We've got somewhere to get soon, so why don't you just let us through and we'll leave you alone."

"You Americans must be pretty stupid," one of the gang members spoke up. "There's six of us, and only two of you."

"Did you want my help, or are you going take them out on your own?" Gale asked Robin, speaking Japanese so that the gang members could understand him.

"We might as well both take them. It'll save a little time." Hearing this, the gang rushed at the two Titans, only to be beaten up and;eft in a pile on the sidewalk less than a minute later.

"Let's get back now," Gale said. "So I can find out what you guys have planned."

* * *

Raven and Starfire hung around in the bookstore for a good while, looking about for anything that might be of interest. As she was browsing, the young sorceress couldn't shake the feeling that her friend was obviously part of some sort of scheme. But after some time, Starfire's communicator went off, which apparently meant that they could return to Ichigo's house. "Do I have to wait until we get back before you tell me what's going on?"

"Have patience, everything will be revealed at the proper time," Starfire answered in her usually happy voice.

"And that would be when?"

"Soon."

The two of them walked the rest of the way in relative silence, making one stop so that Starfire could buy a pair of black roses. Raven looked at her curiously at this, but refrained from asking any further questions, preferring to get back and find out what all the fuss was about. When they finally arrived at Ichigo's house, Starfire knocked at the door and Rukia answered, stepping outside quickly and closing the door before Raven could get a glimpse of what was inside. "Good, you're here," she said, apparently a little excited. "Two things before we can let you in. Don't ask questions, and I'm going to blindfold you, so don't panic."

"What?" Raven said in a confused tone, before Rukia put the blindfold over her eyes, tying securely around her head.

"Now, just follow us, and don't worry about anything." Raven felt Starfire grab her hand and guide her through the entrance. Blindfolded as she was, the young sorceress couldn't see a thing, even though she could detect a few pleasant smells hanging in the air. She walked along as her friend guided her up the stairs and judging by the sound of a door closing behind her, into a room.

"Can I take this stupid blindfold off yet?" Raven asked.

"No, not yet or you'll spoil the surprise," Yuzu piped up.

"However weird this may feel, please don't panic or anything," Karin spoke. The two Kurosaki girls then started pulling off Raven's outfit and changing her into what she could feel was most likely a dress. After that, they had her sit down, and began brushing her hair. Then, with the promise that she'd keep her eyes closed, they removed the blindfold and started working on her face. Once that was finally finished, they carefully put the blindfold back on and guided her out, down the stairs, and stopped her in the middle of the room.

"Raven? Is that you?" Gale's voice was heard in front of her.

"It's me," she replied. "I guess they blindfolded you too, huh?"

"Yeah, but they haven't given me any reason yet."

"Don't worry," Rukia reassured them. "Everything will be revealed in a few seconds."

"Just get ready for the surprise of your lives," Beast Boy added. Raven and Gale's blindfolds were pulled off a second later, Beast Boy and Rukia running off right after. When their sight came into full focus again, their faces suddenly had mirror images of surprise. Raven was wearing a sparkling, sleeveless, dark blue dress, with elegant knee high black boots. She also had a touch of dark lipstick, eye shadow, and a dab of other makeup on her face, although it had been done in a manner to accentuate her natural beauty, rather than give a perfect, but false appearance.

For his part, Gale was sporting a white shirt with a bit of black, and slits cut into the back for his wings to poke through. He also wore black pants, a pair of sleek black shoes and his hair was combed back with gel to keep it in place. "Umm…" they both said, stunned at each other's appearance. Also, the dining room table had a fancy red tablecloth overtop, with napkins, a handful of black rose petals, a pair of lit candles, and was set for two people. The smell of incense was hanging in the air, a soft, slow music was playing, and the room was obviously made to give a romantic atmosphere.

While the two Titans were staring at one another, Isshin waltzed into the room, dressed like a waiter, wearing white and black, with a clean white towel on his arm. "Good evening, sir and madam," he greeted them with a wide smile on his face. "Welcome to _Chez Kurosaki_. Your table is waiting for you. Please sit down." Isshin waited until they were seated, then clapped his hands twice, at which Rukia and Starfire walked in, both of whom were wearing simple dresses and carrying a plate of food. "On the menu tonight: Shrimp and Mushroom Linguini with Creamy Herb and Cheese Sauce." Rukia and Starfire set the plates in front of Raven and Gale and stepped back with a smile. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Uhh, yeah," Raven said, still a little surprised by everything.

"I guess so," Gale added.

"Busboy," Isshin called out, clapping his hands again, which prompted Beast Boy and Robin, also dressed in black and white, to enter the room, one carrying two glasses, while the other had a bottle of sparkling apple juice. Both of them were smiling in amusement at their friends as they set the glasses down and poured the juice. "And now… please enjoy yourselves," Isshin said, him and the two 'busboys' stepping back to leave the two diners alone.

"Well… this is all unexpected," Raven admitted after a moment's silence.

"You're telling me," Gale said. "I mean, it was obvious enough that something was going on, but still…"

"I guess we might as well go along with this," Raven suggested. "I am pretty hungry, and they've already prepared food for us." Gale nodded, at which the two of them began to enjoy their meal.

* * *

On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy were currently in the midst of robbing a bank in Gotham City. "Come on, come on," the jester like villainess urged her companion in an excited manner as the bank's employees hid in fright. "We've got so little time, and so much to steal. Better hurry up before the Bat comes around."

"There's no need to worry," Ivy replied calmly as she gently stroked an octopus like plant monster, then sent it to go force open a vault door. "Batman has his hands full with Two-Face on the other side of Gotham."

"But I'm ready to entertain both of you." The two women turned around to look in the direction that the voice had come from and saw the new heroine known as The Jade Spider who was hanging from the ceiling.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Harley asked.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm the Jade Spider. And I'm here to kick your butts. However, I am willing to accept your peaceful surrender."

"I don't think so," Ivy spoke up. "Baby dear," she addressed her plant monster. "Take care of this little spider for us, will you now?" The plant creature moved away from the now open vault and grabbed a desk, then threw it at the human spider girl, who jumped away from her perch before she was hit. She then extended an arm and shot out a line of webbing from her wrist at a spot on the ceiling, using it to swing around and kick the monster in its head, knocking it into the wall.

"You down for the count, ugly?" she asked the plant monster. In response, it pried itself from the wall and leapt at Jade, who dodged its tentacles with agility. As she was jumping around, she shot out multiples strings of her webbing at the monster's tentacles, trapping them all against the floor, then swung over to the detached vault door, and with impressive strength, picked it up and threw it at the plant monster, crushing its head underneath. "So, ready to give up now, girls?"

"You wish," Harley said. She then pulled out a nerf gun and fired it off at Jade. She dodged the projectiles with obvious ease, which exploded as they hit the floor and wall.

"You should work on your aim, because it looks pretty sloppy," Jade taunted her as she continued to dodge.

"Stand still so I can shoot you."

"Let me think about it for one second… nope, I don't feel like it." Jade then shot off a line of web at Harley's gun, blocking the barrel's mouth and causing it to blow up when she tried to fire again. As this was happening, Ivy managed to run over to the plant creature and used her powers to re-animate it. Seeing a grenade at Harley's belt, Jade used her webbing to grab it. "Hope you don't mind me borrowing this. Now open wide, ugly," she said, kicking the plant monster in the head, prompting it to open its mouth, at which she pulled the grenade's pin and dropped it in, causing the creature to explode a few seconds later.

"You killed my baby!" Poison Ivy exclaimed angrily.

"Sorry about that. I never was good at taking care of plants anyway."

"Let's get out of here," Harley urged her friend, both of them making a run for it.

"Where are you going?" Jade asked. "I was having so much fun." She then went to stop the two of them with her webs, but before she had the chance, a pair of batarangs sailed through the air and smacked them in the head, rendering them unconscious. "Hey Bats," she greeted Gotham's Dark Knight as he dropped to the ground next to her. "Why'd you do that? You just ruined my grand finale." Batman simply stared at her in response. "I heard you were busy with Two-Face. I guess you must be done with him now."

"…Obviously."

"By the way, I was thinking I might hop over to Jump City whenever the Titans come back and try to join their merry band. You wouldn't mind putting in a good word for me, hey?"

"I'll think about it. As for your performance here… you did good."

"Why thank you, Bats. Well, I'd best be off."

* * *

Back in Karakura Town, at Ichigo's house, Raven and Gale were both having a surprisingly good time as they were eating dinner together. "You know, under normal circumstances, I probably wouldn't too happy at everyone for going behind our backs like this," Raven spoke up. "But this is… kind of fun."

"Yeah, you're right about that," Gale agreed. "And it's good to see you happy."

"Thanks," she said with a smile.

"You look… nice, when you smile like that," Gale commented, smiling in return, causing the young sorceress to blush a little.

"You're just saying that."

"No, really, I mean it," he insisted.

Isshin entered the room and grinned a little. "Well, I've rarely seen such a perfect happy couple. Would either of you like to have dessert?"

"That depends," Raven said, her and Gale blushing because of his comment. "What's for dessert?"

"Today we have an excellent chocolate cake, with delicious chocolate icing on top."

"Sure, sounds good," the young sorceress replied.

"I'll have some too," Gale added.

Isshin then clapped his hands three times. "Bring out the dessert." At this, Cyborg walked into the room, carrying two small places, each with a slice of mouth-watering chocolate cake. The cybernetic teen winked suggestively as he took their plates and set the dessert in front of them. Gale and Raven ate in silence, both of them still blushing and embarrassed by all the hints and suggestions sent their way. Shortly after they were done, Isshin came back to the table. "So… did you enjoy yourselves?"

"Surprisingly, yes," Raven answered.

"Good, very good." Isshin then raised his hands and clapped five times, at which everyone else came into the room. "But thanks should also be given to Rukia for coming up with the idea, Yuzu for supervising the kitchen operations, Karin for taking care of the decorating, and everyone else who helped prepare all this."

"It was… nice of you all, even considering the fact that you went behind our backs," Raven said.

"Thank you for doing this," Gale added.

"You're welcome," Rukia replied.

"By the way," Karin spoke up. "Up north, a little past where the river splits, there's a spot where it's really nice at night, especially when the moon is shining."

"I believe it is a splendid idea," Starfire noted. "Go ahead and we shall take care of everything here."

"You sure?" Gale asked.

"Don't worry about a thing," Robin reassured them. "Just go and we'll meet you guys back at the hotel when you're finished."

"Okay then, thanks," Raven said as they stood up to go walk out the door.

"However…" Beast Boy spoke up, prompting them to stop and turn around. "There is a price tag attached to all this."

"You need to let us take a picture of both of you," Yuzu explained, holding up a camera. Raven and Gale looked at each other for a moment, then decided to go along with it. Yuzu instructed them to take stand close and smile, at which she took the shot. "Good one, now run along and have fun." That said, Gale put an illusion around him and Raven to disguise their appearances, then they said goodbye and walked out the door.

* * *

After a brief stop in a secluded spot where Gale dispelled the illusion surrounding him and Raven, the two Titans flew up off the ground, following along the river towards the place Karin had told them about. "So…" Raven spoke up as they were flying, keeping fairly close to each other as they moved through the silent nighttime sky. "Do you know anything about this place your cousin wants us to go see?"

"Yeah," Gale answered. "Whenever my mom and I would come over, all of us would go sit there one night for an hour and just watch." They continued flying for a short time, and landed on the side of the river when Gale declared that they'd arrived. "Hmm… this isn't really like what I remembered."

"Maybe it's because the moon is hidden behind those clouds over there," Raven pointed out. "Too bad, this is slightly disappointing."

"Just a moment," Gale spoke up. A gust of wind began to blow as the winged titan concentrated, focussing his power. He held his arms straight out, hands clapped together and pointing at the clouds obstructing the moon. A second later, he moved his arms to either side, at which the clouds suddenly split apart.

"Wow…" Raven said in awe at the sight of the moonlight shining down on the river. The two titans then sat down right next to each other, looking at the beautiful scenery. "Karin was right, this really is nice," the young sorceress commented after they'd been sitting in silence for a while.

"Yeah… it is. Did you have a good time tonight?"

"Best I've had in a really long time. What about you?"

"It was great." Gale then stretched out one of his wings and wrapped it around Raven's shoulder, while she placed an arm around his waist.

'I should tell him how I feel right now,' Raven said in her mind.

'Better confess to her before I lose it,' Gale thought, steeling himself.

"Rachel…" "Amicus…" they spoke up at the same time as they turned to face each other.

"You first." "You first."

"I insist." "I insist."

The two of them laughed a little at this. "Go on," Gale said.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say that… you're a nice guy, and even though we've have had some ups and down, you've always been a great friend, and I really appreciate that."

"Thanks, Rachel. You've always been a great friend too. And you really are beautiful."

Raven blushed a little at this, feeling particularly happy to hear her prospective love interest compliment her so. "Thanks. So, I, umm, talked to Starfire recently, about something… and since then … I've, umm, realized that I… I believe what I've been feeling is… I don't know how to say this."

"Maybe it'll be easier if you just say it straight out," Gale suggested.

"Okay… What I mean to say is that I-" The sudden appearance of a mass of spiritual pressure cut off Raven mid-speech. "What the…"

"This can't be arrancars, the spiritual pressure isn't right," Gale noted. "It must be hollows."

"But if there's this much, then that must mean…" As if to answer for Raven, a rip appeared in the sky, followed by a second, and a third, and a mass of others until it was nearly impossible to keep count, with hollows stepping out from each one. "That… is a lot of hollows…"

The two titans looked at each other for a second and then nodded, at which Gale turned into his spirit form, while Raven put on her bracelet. Sensing their spiritual pressure, a dozen nearby hollows started flying towards them. However, before they even got anywhere close, a barrage of razor sharp gusts of wind and a blast of black energy obliterated them in a flash. "Shall we?" Gale spoke up, materializing his transparent sword as they both flew up into the air.

"Not exactly the evening I had in mind, but I'll live with it. Them on the other hand…"

"Let's go then."

* * *

All over Karakura Town, the members of the soul reaper taskforce and their allies became aware of the presence of numerous hollows. At Orihime's house, Toshiro and Rangiku swallowed their soul candy, leaving their gigai with the bubbly orange haired girl. Rukia, who was in her room at Ichigo's house after having finished helping clean up, popped her own soul candy into her mouth and jumped out the window to meet up with Renji, who had left his gigai inside the Urahara Shop. At their end, Ryu and Shelliane jumped out of their gigai and dashed out, running into a bunch of hollows shortly after they'd left the house they owned together. And as for Ikkaku and Yumichika, they weren't unhappy to have a reason to get away from Keigo, or rather, his overbearing sister who kept clinging to the bald third seat of squad eleven.

And as for the other Titans, they were walking back from Ichigo's house, heading towards the hotel they were staying in, looking forward to a good night's sleep, and perhaps some discussion about Raven and Gale's blooming relationship. Robin and Starfire had already shed their civilian clothes in favor of their uniforms, while Beast Boy and Cyborg had taken off their holo-watches. The four of them stopped in their tracks when they became aware of the hollows' spiritual pressure. "Dude, this feels just like when those arrancars appeared last time," Beast Boy noted.

"No, this is different," Robin pointed out. "This is more like… hollows." A large band of hollows stepped out from a mass of tears in the sky, while another handful came towards the Titans from down the street.

"Lots and lots of hollows…" Cyborg added as they all put on the bracelets Kisuke had given them, standing at the ready. "Alright, who wants a case of canned butt whoop?"

Half a dozen hollows charged forwards as if to answer his challenge. The first died when Starfire let loose with her eyebeams, blasting its head right off. The second was downed by a full powered shot from Cyborg's sonic cannon, which hit dead center in its mask. Beast Boy turned into a gorilla and uprooted a lamppost that he brought down on another's head with all of his rather impressive might, swatting it like a fly. Robin hit the fourth hollow in the eye with an expertly thrown birdarang, causing it to open its mouth and roar in pain, only to have an explosive disk sail into its gaping maw, blowing its head up a second later. The last two were the only ones of this group to get close, which turned out to be a fatal mistake, as Cyborg and Starfire buried their fists in one's face, while Robin jumped over the other's swing, slammed it into the ground with a downward blow from his staff, then jumped back, allowing for Beast Boy to change into an elephant and stomp on its head, crushing it like an egg.

All of the other nearby hollows froze for a second and stared, feeling some manner of surprise at seeing their intended prey fight back with such ferocity. "Who is next?" Starfire called out, hovering a foot above the ground, with a starbolt in each hand. The hollows cried out in response and started coming towards the teenage heroes.

"What about Raven and Gale?" Beast Boy asked.

"They're strong enough to take care of themselves," Robin reassured him. "Titans… Go!"

* * *

Back with Raven and Gale, the two Titans in question were both flying in the air while fighting the mass of hollows that kept coming at them. "These hollows may be weak…" Raven said as she used her powers to cut a hollow in half at the waist, while sending out a beam of black energy that punched through another's mask and came out the back of its head. "But there's so many of them that it's starting to get annoying."

"Tell me about it," Gale replied, swinging his sword, sending forth a blade of air that sped towards a group of three hollows, cutting them down and going on until it sliced off a fourth's right arm. "At least they're not as bad as those arrancars," he added, doing a mid-air roll, avoiding a hollow that lunged at him, while spinning around with his sword and decapitating it.

As they kept fighting, slaughtering any hollows that came at them, a larger rip than usual appeared in the sky, spewing forth another wave of monsters, adding onto the already annoyingly larger amount of attackers. Seeing this, Raven let out a blast with her powers to push back all their enemies and give them both a little room to breathe. The two Titans hovered back to back, both their spiritual pressures surging as they prepared to unleash their powers. Gale changed his sword into a pair of ear muffs which he gave to Raven. She put them on and began to chant as he breathed in deeply, their enemies coming ever closer.

"Azarath… Metrion… ZINTHOS!" Raven cried out, unleashing a wave of black energy that tore through the hollows like a scythe cutting wheat. At the same time, a particularly loud and devastating sonic shriek erupted from Gale's mouth, stopping the rest of the hollows in their tracks, barely holding them up for a second before they all simply began to explode from the sheer pressure and volume. When the two Titans were finished, they stood in mid-air on a disk made from Raven's powers, tired from using up this much energy, though they had more to spare. As they looked around, they saw that their combined attacks had decimated the hollows' ranks, leaving less of them alive than before.

At that moment, a black portal opened up in mid-air, but instead of a hollow, a blond man with tan skin came out, wearing a dark red jacket, yellowish shirt and black pants with a flame shaped stripe on the side of each leg, and a zanpakuto hanging at his belt. His spiritual pressure was akin to that of a soul reaper, but also like an arrancar's, though he had no hollow hole or mask remnant. As soon as he appeared, he held out his hands towards the two Titans. "Hado 73: Soren Sokatsui!" Twin blast of blue spiritual energy shot out from the palm of his hands towards the two Titans, who were fortunate to have sensed his presence in time to move out of the way. "Well hello there," the man said in a false happy tone. "My name's Dakar. I'm here to test your powers, and maybe kill you while I'm at it."

"Did Aizen send you?" Gale asked cautiously, not letting her guard down.

"Maybe he did, and maybe he didn't. For all you know, it might have been someone else entirely." He drew his zanpakuto and spoke four words. "Blaze like fury, _Rekka!_" (_Inferno_) His katana changed into a long sword with a crimson hilt and an orange tinted blade, and his spiritual pressure went up a good amount. "You're no doubt wondering about my spiritual pressure. Well, firstly, I used to be a soul reaper years back, but then I decided it wasn't my kind of thing. And as for the other, if you manage to fight well enough, then I might show you. Now let's get at it."

* * *

Back with the other Titans, they were all busy fighting a large number of hollows. While Robin and Cyborg were confined to the ground, Starfire engaged more in an aerial battle, whereas Beast Boy alternated between the two, depending on what animal forms he was using. Fortunately, despite their enemies' numbers, and despite the fact that they hadn't been able to use their spiritual powers, the four of them weren't having too much trouble holding their own. "Hey guys," Cyborg spoke up as he punched a hollow in the fact hard enough to shatter its mask. "I'm picking up some kind of strange energy in the air that looks like its responsible for attracting the hollows here, like some kind of bait."

"Can you identify where it came from?" Robin asked, jumping onto a hollow's outstretched arm, quickly running up to its head, then pulling out a pair of batons and burying one of them in each of the monster's eyes.

"Not yet, but it looks like it's starting to fade away, so we shouldn't have to deal with these hollows for much longer."

As they continued fighting, it became apparent that Cyborg was right about the bait's potency starting to fade, as less and less hollows kept showing up to replace those that were felled. At one point, when there were no more than a dozen hollows left, a pitch black portal opened, from which a hollow that looked something like a big, vicious werewolf came through. Surprisingly enough, the new one ruthlessly dove into the hollows' midst, killing and devouring them in a display that grossed out the Titans. "This does not seem good," Starfire noted as the new hollow raised its head and howled, flaring its powerful spiritual pressure.

The new hollow then lunged at the alien girl, driving a fist into her stomach and throwing her to the ground. Starfire recovered quickly enough to catch the hollow's hands, and as she held it at bay, an explosive disk collided with its back, followed by the Titans' leader hitting the hollow with a flying kick that knocked it off his girlfriend. The werewolf creature was sent flying a short distance, but shrugged off the impact and dashed at Beast Boy, who changed into a gorilla and punched him hard in the chest hard enough to send him flying into a neon sign. However, he recovered quickly and uprooted said neon sign, bringing it down on the green gorilla's head.

Starfire let loose a barrage of starbolts at the werewolf, who dodged them as well as blasts of sonic energy, then grabbed the half metal titan and hurled him at Starfire, sending the two crashing away. The creature went to make a move towards Robin, but was interrupted when Beast Boy suddenly changed into 'The Beast' and threw the neon sign that had been brought down on his head, nailing the creature in the face. The changeling followed up by lunging at their enemy, pounding it with his form's great strength, overpowering its resistance. The beating continued for a few moments, until Beast Boy hit the monster with a huge uppercut, sending it flying way up, where Starfire hit it back down with a double handed blow, using all of her natural Tamaranian strength. It crashed into the street hard enough to make a small crater, but was still able to stand up, albeit with some effort, only for Robin to throw an explosive disk from one end and Cyborg to shoot with his sonic cannon from the other, which caused an explosion that left it face-down and practically defeated.

Unexpectedly, another black portal opened up next to the winged werewolf, from which a tall figure stepped through. He appeared to be a male human, though it was impossible to know more, given that he was entirely dressed in black, along with a black cloak and hood that hid most of his face. "Hello, Titans," he spoke in a cold, deep voice.

"Who are you?" Robin demanded, him and the others ready to jump into action.

"You must be the reason so many hollows showed up, aren't you?" Cyborg asked.

"I needed a distraction big enough to keep you four and those lingering soul reapers busy. I had hoped my pet would be able to keep you busy for longer, but I guess he's not enough as it is." The mysterious man's spiritual pressure began to rise to impressive lengths as his hand was covered in dark magic. The werewolf cried out in pain as he zapped it with chaotic energy, causing it to triple in size, grow a pair of bat like wings, as well as a long serpentine tail, and mutate into a more vicious being than before. "I have other plans right now, so I won't be sticking around. But I'll leave you in his capable and deadly hands. Enjoy." The mysterious figure then opened up another black portal and stepped through, closing it behind him, leaving the Titans alone with the newly empowered hollow.

* * *

While Raven dealt with the remaining hollows, Gale concentrated on Dakar, whose new sword and power was proving to be something of a challenge. Unfortunately for the winged Titan, fighting all those hollows beforehand had tired him out somewhat, which made things a little harder, even though he was still able to meet his opponent blow for blow. "Not bad, bird boy, especially considering the amount of hollows you and your girlfriend went through. But let's see just how well you can keep up." Dakar swung a downward blow at Gale, who blocked it while holding his sword in both hands, then breathed in, pursed his lips and blew, using his powers to amplify his breath enough to send his enemy flying. The former soul reaper slid back some distance, and steadied himself in time to see Gale coming towards him, at which he pointed his sword straight out, shooting off a dozen small fireballs. Faced with this, the winged titan quickly spun around on himself, creating a whirlwind that blew away the fireballs. When Dakar dashed down, Gale stopped spinning and created a wall of air, flipping around and kicking off in the direction of his enemy.

Dakar ignited his blade and swung at Gale, who was forced to engage in a deadly dance to avoid getting burned by multiple blades of fire sent his way. The former soul reaper kept it up for a moment, then raised his sword, gathering more flames, and swung it in a wide arc, sending out a huge wave of fire. Seeing this, Gale quickly focussed his powers through his own sword and swung it hard with both hands, sending out a wave of air that blasted the incoming attack. Dakar then used his speed to appear up above and swung his fiery blade at the winged boy, who only had time to spin around and raise his sword to block it. However, the momentum of this attack pushed against him with enough force that he crashed to the ground. Raven intervened in their battle when she used her powers to grab the last two remaining hollows and throw them at Dakar, who incinerated one, and sliced the other in half.

"That's a pretty looking dress," he commented to the young sorceress. "It think it'd look even better if I bur-" A rising beam of wind punched him in the chin, not being powerful enough to inflict great damage, but still hurting him a little and interrupting whatever he'd been about to say. "So… it's two against one now," he noted as Gale flew up to be at Raven's side. "Not very fair, is it?"

"Not like you know the meaning of the word," Raven shot back.

"You know what? You're absolutely right." Dakar then suddenly swung his sword with both hands, sending a huge blast of fire at Raven and Gale. However, as he did so, the air in front of the two Titans shimmered and started to take form, quickly becoming the giant eagle of air, blocking his attack. "What the…?" The eagle then spread its wings and screeched as it flared to life, zooming towards the former soul reaper and ramming him with its beak. A split second later, it raked its talons across his back, then flew around and batted him away with its wings, after which it grasped him firmly in its talons. The eagle dove straight down, pulling up at the last instant, slamming its prey hard into the ground. "What… the hell... was that?" Dakar wondered, prying himself out of the ground with a certain difficulty, having suffered more than a few injuries.

"Secret weapon," Gale answered simply.

"Tough bugger isn't it?" the former soul reaper said, gritting his teeth. "Guess I'll just have to show you my own secret weapon." Dakar managed to stand up and raised his hand to his face, at which hundreds of fragments of white light began to gather in his palm. He then brought his hand across his face, revealing a stark white hollow mask with orange lines running from the eyes like tear marks. Raven and Gale's expressions showed surprise as Dakar's spiritual pressure rose to unexpected heights. "So, now you see why my spiritual pressure's different from soul reapers," he spoke in a distorted voice. He then suddenly swung his sword, sending out a much bigger and more powerful wave of fire than before. The giant eagle dived down and spread its wings wide to block the flames, though Gale could feel a little strain.

Dakar took advantage of the cover his attack provided to jump high up into the air and swing his blazing sword down at the eagle, hitting it with enough power to push it away. He then pointed his weapon at the two Titans, shooting a large fireball at them. Raven put up a shield of black energy that barely managed to hold out against the assault, but shattered when Dakar slammed his sword into it. This he followed up by taking a swing at Gale, who put up his own sword in time, but was still sent flying back a distance. The former soul reaper spun around and drove his foot into Raven's stomach, knocking the wind out of her. As the young sorceress was falling down, Dakar sent out a blade of fire, which broke through her hastily erected shield, sending her crashing into the ground hard.

Dakar then raised his sword and was going to send out another blade of fire, but Gale then unleashed a sonic shriek, forcing him to quickly move out of the way. He dodged to the side as the giant eagle zoomed towards him, only to get caught off guard when it spun around and smacked him with its outstretched wings. Gale delved into his powers and pushed him further away with a strong gust of wind. The winged boy then took the opportunity to dive down next to Raven. "Are you okay?" he asked his friend, feeling worried at the state she was in.

The young sorceress groaned a little as she managed to sit up with his help. "I'm not feeling so good, but I'll live."

"I've got to hand it to you, kid," Dakar spoke up in his distorted voice, standing still in mid-air above them, sword resting on his shoulder. "You're pretty tough, and that pet of yours can sure lay a smack down. I didn't expect you to still put up this much of a fight after I'd hollowfied. But it's only a matter of time until you get worn out."

"Rae… please stay here while I take care of this guy," Gale said as he called the giant eagle down towards him.

"But…"

"The eagle is a manifestation of my power, just like a zanpakuto is to a soul reaper. It's time I went all out."

"Just be careful," Raven said.

"What're you talking about anyway?" Dakar asked. "What do you plan on doing that could possibly defeat me?"

Gale dispelled his sword and flew up a few feet off the ground so that he was at the same height as the eagle. The two of them suddenly flew straight towards one another, the giant bird of air fading into its master upon contact. Gale stood still in mid-air, his body changing as they merged. His clothes were absorbed into his skin, leaving behind a pair of form fitting black shorts. White feathers began to sprout all over his body at the same time, with the exception of his hands, feet and the mark on his chest, which were left bare. His wings grew until they were twice their normal span, then split to form a second pair identical to the first. When he was finished transforming, Gale flew up a little further, giving their enemy a sharp glare.

Dakar suddenly swung his sword down with both hands, sending a huge wave of fire at Gale, who looked at it in an unconcerned manner, willing a wall of air to appear, stopping the wave dead in its tracks. Dakar growled angrily and shot out a set of large fireballs which crashed against the barrier with no effect whatsoever. He then ignited his blade and charged towards Gale, who commanded the barrier to disappear, then let his spiritual pressure flow freely, shocking the hollowfied soul reaper with the sheer amount he was emitting. The elemental Titan then flapped his wings at his enemy three times, shooting a veritable storm of razor like feathers. When the barrage ended, Dakar was left bleeding from a mass of various cuts, despite his efforts, while Gale's feathers had regrown instantly.

"Wow…" Raven said, awed at the power her friend was displaying.

"You asked what I planned on doing that could defeat you," Gale spoke up. "Now you know." He then extended his arm to the side, materializing his transparent sword, and charged at his enemy again.

* * *

The winged werewolf was giving Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy more trouble now than before the mysterious figure had zapped it with strange dark magical energy. Even though they weren't exactly getting beaten back, the empowered hollows was still successfully holding its own against them, even with the green Titan fighting as 'The Beast'. "Though this creature has not caused us terribly great problems…" Starfire spoke up during a lull in the battle. "It is proving to be much more difficult than before."

"That guy said he was just trying to keep us and the soul reapers busy, but he didn't say anything about Raven and Gale," Robin noted. "That means he must be planning to go after them."

"Then we'll just have to get rid of this thing so we can go help em out," Cyborg said.

Beast Boy nodded and gave a grunt of approval, then suddenly lunged at the winged werewolf. It jumped into the air and tried to fly out of the way, but the changeling simply crouched and sprung up off the ground, clamping his clawed hands around its ankles. The creature was then hit in by a punch courtesy of Starfire, which made a sound that suggested a breaking jaw, but managed to retaliate by whipping her with its tail, making her collide with and obliterate a set of traffic lights. Robin threw a pair of birdarangs that cut the creature's face and put out one of its eyes, allowing Cyborg to carefully take aim and hit it in the head with a shot from his sonic cannon. This in turn gave Beast Boy the chance to pull himself up and land a few big hits, which he followed up on by clawing at the hollow's wings, almost tearing them off.

The werewolf jerked and flailed wildly in pain, enough so that he managed to get The Beast off of him. Beast Boy landed on all fours, whereas their enemy crashed into the ground. The creature pulled itself up, acting as if it couldn't even feel its injuries, and let out a defiant roar. Dark, magical energy suddenly erupted from the creature's chest, identical to that which the mysterious figure had used on it before. It swirled around the werewolf's body, healing its mangled wings, resetting its broken jaw, fixing its bleeding eye and battered face. Its body now healed and sheathed in chaotic energy, the monstrous hollow lunged at The Beast, dodging his powerful fists, and slamming it away with a hard punch of its own. It then set its sights on Robin, who used his speed and agility to dodge its attacks, and drove a heel into its muzzle, only to be sent flying down the street, even though he managed an easy landing.

Cyborg fired a blast from his sonic cannon, while Starfire put her hands together and shot a beam of green energy. The winged werewolf crouched down a little and wrapped its wings around its body, shielding itself against their attacks. It then stood up, pulled back its fists and smashed them into the pavement with enough strength to cause a web of cracks to zoom towards the two Titans, knocking them down. It then flew straight towards them as they were getting up and spun around, whipping its tail, catching them in the chest and smacking them away. The magic surrounding its body began to gather in its gaping maw as Beast Boy came charging forward. The Beast jumped high in the air, closing the distance between them in one giant leap, coming down at their enemy with claws outstretched. The creature then let loose its attack, the magical energy blasting away like a cero, hitting Beast Boy full face, sending him sky high.

"Not cool," Cyborg noted as he, Starfire and Robin got to their feet and regrouped.

"Indeed," Starfire agreed. "The evil person's magic appears to have been more potent than we first believed."

"Now might be the time to pull out those fancy spiritual powers," the cybernetic teenager suggested.

"One problem," Robin said. "None of us know how to do it just like that." Beast Boy suddenly crashed into the ground hard enough to make a crater.

"I'm so sick of this thing!" the changeling declared angrily as he reverted back to his normal form, looking a little worse for wear. His spiritual pressure began to rise to impressive heights as he started to change, like the time he first transformed into 'The Beast'. He became a creature about the size of a gorilla, his head changed into a dragon's, his skin became armor, and his body changed into a dark green, almost black color. He grew a second pair of arms below the original two, massive muscles appeared all over, making his limbs look like veritable trunks with claws as sharp as his teeth. His transformation was completed when he sprouted a long whip like tail with a deadly looking crescent blade at the tip.

Leaving his friends little time to admire his new form, Beast Boy lunged at their enemy with more than impressive speed, punching it in the face with one of his huge fists, then hitting it with an uppercut that picked it up off its feet and sent it flying. The winged werewolf managed to spread its wings to stabilize itself, but only in time to see the shape-shifter rocket upwards and head-butt it in the stomach, then toss it back down like a rag doll. Beast Boy then came falling, clawed feet first, but just missed when the creature rolled out of the way. The creature uprooted a telephone pole and swung it down at Beast Boy, breaking it over his head with no effect. The evil monster threw the pole, which was caught with one hand and tossed far away like a stick, then quickly charged up dark magic and blasted it off. Beast Boy dug his heels into the ground and put up his arms, stopping the attack dead in its tracks. Once it was spent, he opened his mouth wide and let out a torrent of flames that engulfed his enemy, causing it to howl loudly in pain.

The hollow was left with a mass of rather severe burns all over its body, but a sudden outburst of chaotic energy forced it to stand up again and charge at Beast Boy, who lashed out with a barrage of punches from his four arms, pummelling it over and over. He finished it up with a head-butt, then cracked his tail like a whip, slicing the crescent blade through his enemy's neck, which fell to the ground a second later, before it dissipated into a mass of spiritual particles, along with the rest of the body. Beast Boy stood still for a few moments, then fell to his hands and knees as he reverted back to his normal form. "Beast Boy, are you alright?" Cyborg asked.

"Of course… dude," he answered, panting with exhaustion. "We still… need… to help Raven… and Gale."

"Cyborg, pick up Beast Boy and carry him on your back," Robin spoke up, prompting the cybernetic teenager to pick up his wearied teammate. "Let's hope you're not too tired by the time we find the others."

* * *

Even with his combined hollow and soul reaper powers, it was clear Dakar was no longer a match for Gale. In his merged form, the winged Titan was overpowering the former soul reaper at every turn, his powers rendering all enemy attacks futile, while smashing through any defenses. Even in terms of speed, Gale was able to surpass him without much effort. At the moment, both fighters were standing still in mid-air, with Dakar bleeding from numerous cuts. "Who sent you, and why?" Gale demanded.

"I'm not telling you anything, you ignorant brat!" Dakar spat out. "I am going to shove my zanpakuto through your stomach and burn your little girl friend while you-" Gale suddenly swung his sword, sending a huge blade of air at the former soul reaper, not only interrupting him, but blasting him a good distance away and causing further injury.

"I will not let you hurt her," the winged titan said in an unbending tone.

Dakar let out a cry of rage and used his speed to appear behind Gale, swinging his fiery blade at his exposed back, but found his attack blocked by the sudden appearance of a shield of air. The elemental teenager then spun around and thrust out with his arm, absorbing the shield in the palm of his hand and blasting his enemy with a beam of wind. He followed up by flapping his wings, shooting out a flurry of feathers, which cut Dakar's skin like razor sharp blades. The former soul reaper growled at this and swung his sword, sending out a blade of fire. Gale suddenly vanished, avoiding the attack, and re-appeared at Dakar's left, his right, front, back, on all sides, almost a dozen winged Titans surrounding him.

The many copies of Gale all charged at the lone enemy, who tried to defend himself, but without a great deal of success. He blocked one's strike, and was cut in his shoulder, retaliating with a hard fist, only to get slammed in the back, then shot a fireball that took out one copy, with another two cutting him below the ribs a second later. Dakar let loose his spiritual pressure, creating a shockwave of fire that took out a couple more and gave himself some breathing room. Gale willed his copies to disappear, revealing himself to be unscathed, standing at a distance. "_Bureijingufaiagoremu!_" (_Blazing Fire Golems_) A stream of fire extended from Dakar's zanpakuto, forming ten featureless lava golems.

"I've had enough of you, brat."

"You're right, time to end this." Gale swung his sword in a wide, horizontal arc, though nothing appeared to happen.

"Kill him!" Dakar ordered his golems.

Gale then raised his free hand and snapped his fingers, at which every one of the golems broke into tiny pieces. Raven's mouth dropped open a little in surprise at seeing her friend wipe out what appeared to be a powerful attack with seemingly no effort. The winged boy then sent out a blade of air that Dakar managed to block with his Zanpakuto, but was still forced back, until he slammed into a wall of air. He struggled with all his might against the rising pressure, but his fate was sealed when Gale raised his sword with both hands, the transparent blade glowing with power for a moment, and swung it down one last time. A truly massive blade of air arced from the weapon, travelling the distance between the two fighters in an instant, putting such pressure on Dakar that he was overcome after all of about two seconds, at which his zanpakuto shattered, and his hollow mask was obliterated. The former soul reaper started to fall, but was stopped by a platform of air that appeared underneath him.

"Damn… so much power…" he muttered in a defeated tone.

"If Aizen isn't the one who sent you, then who did?" Gale asked.

Dakar looked up at the Titan, bearing a look of shame because of his defeat. "He's dark and mysterious, and knows some kind of black magic that's kind of like your friend's. He never showed me his face, but he's strong, and he gave me the power of hollowfication."

"What's his name?"

"It's… S-" Dakar cried out in pain as dark magical energy suddenly erupted from his chest, enveloping his body and burning him to a crisp, leaving nothing behind. The two Titans looked shocked at this, not having expected such a thing to happen. A moment later, Gale shook off his surprise and flew down until he was standing next to Raven.

"Are you alright?" he asked in a soft voice, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine," she replied, having been able to use her powers to recover from her injuries. "Amicus… your powers were… amazing."

"Heh, thanks," he said, holding a hand to the back of his head. The winged Titan then began to turn back into its normal state, with the only exception being that his wings kept retained their increased length. "Guess my wings decided to keep their growth spurt," Gale commented as he changed from his spirit form, his uniform and feathers regaining their usual colors.

"I think you look good like this," Raven said, smiling as she gently stroked his wings, her touch sending pleasant shivers down his spine. The two Titans then found themselves leaning closer and closer, until their lips met. They kissed each other passionately, a blissful feeling coming over both of them as they were locked in their embrace. They stopped a minute later, a little out of breath, looking deep into each other's eyes with tender expressions.

"I love you, Rachel Roth," the winged boy confessed.

"And I love you, Amicus Rhodes," the young sorceress replied. Gale leaned his head down until his forehead was touching Raven's and gave her a hug, which she happily returned.

However… the fact that happiness cannot last forever was soon shoved into their faces. Gale's eyes popped open in surprise as he detected a dark presence coming from behind Raven. He immediately grabbed his friend and pushed her out of the way, extending one hand forward and conjuring a shield of air. But all the fighting, especially the energy he'd expended while merged with the giant eagle of air, had taken its toll on him, and so his defenses were overcome. Raven's mouth dropped open in horror and disbelief as she looked at her friend.

The reason for this: A black sword that had been stabbed through his stomach and was sticking out his back. It was being held by the same mysterious figure that had appeared before the other Titans. The figure held his right arm out, pointing the palm of his hand at Raven, shooting off a blast of dark, chaotic energy that swept her off her feet, sending her flying back. He then pulled on his sword, removing it from Gale's, who fell down to his knees like a puppet with its strings cut, white blood coming out of his stab wound and mouth. Raven held up her hands, conjuring a shield to fend off a blade of dark, crackling energy that arced from the villain's weapon, and followed up by lashing out with an obsidian claw. The villain raised a portal and dove into it, re-appearing behind Raven, placing a hand on her back, ensnaring her in tendrils made from his magic. Gale somehow managed to send a couple of spikes of air towards their newest enemy, only to have him cut through them with his sword and slam a boot into the winged boy's face, breaking his nose.

"You've come a long way in the past seven years, Amicus," the figure spoke, standing tall over Gale. "You're a lot stronger than that kid I used to know, the one who needed me to look after him when we were at school."

"Can't… be…" Gale muttered in surprise.

"But it is." The mysterious figure then gripped its cloak with one hand and cast it aside. He was a pale skinned young man who appeared to be 20 years old, wearing jeans, a shirt and open trench coat, both with the sleeves ripped off, boots, gloves, metal wrist bands, and a belt with a chain, all of which were black. He had a sword sheath strapped across his back, his hair was black, falling down to his shoulders, and his eyes were a cold blue, giving him a look of death.

"Seth…" Gale said weakly, struggling simply to remain conscious as blood was pouring out of him in unhealthy amounts.

"Surprised to see me, little brother?"

"… Why?"

"You've always had a better life than me," Seth said accusingly. "Sure, people may have picked on you because of your looks, but I stood by your side, and your mother always gave you everything you needed. When I wasn't around anymore, you had your powers. You were alone, but then you found new friends. Even with your little sufferings, you've always had something, or someone to keep you happy. Me… I've seen the true face of this cruel, wretched thing called humanity. And it's not a pretty picture." He punctuated his statement by slashing Gale's left arm, giving him a nasty cut, and kicking him in the chest, knocking him onto his back. "Now it's time for you to die. Goodbye, little brother." Seth then grabbed him with one hand and tossed him into the river.

Raven's spirit energy suddenly skyrocketed, catching him off guard. The tendrils binding the young sorceress shattered like twigs under the pressure, and Seth found himself picked clean off his feet, crashing down on the other side of the river. Wasting no time, Raven flew off the ground and dived in after her friend. A moment later, she emerged from the water, carrying a wounded Gale in his arms. To their enemy's surprise, she was sheathed in obsidian energy, her soul self having fused with her body just as Gale had merged with the giant eagle of air earlier. "I don't care who you are or where you came from, nobody hurts my friends," Raven said, glaring at Seth as she hovered in mid-air.

Seth stood still on the opposite bank, looking at the two Titans in a cautious manner. As strong as he might be, he could sense Raven's power was too much for him to handle at the moment. He also knew that the odds would be even less in his favor if the other Titans showed up, or the members of the soul reaper taskforce, which would quite possibly happen. "You've won this round," Seth said reluctantly, putting his sword away in its sheath. "Take care of him, patch up his wounds, be happy together, but rest assured, you haven't seen the last of me." He then opened up a dark portal to some unknown location and stepped through, vanishing from Karakura Town entirely.

With him gone, Raven flew to the spot where they'd been sitting together before the mess began, and lay her friend down on the ground. Her powers flowed into Gale, healing all of his wounds, fixing his broken nose, leaving him without a scar when it was all said and done, even if his shirt wasn't as well off. "Thanks, Rachel," Gale muttered softly. "I owe you."

Raven removed Kisuke's bracelet, the energy surrounding her dissipating as she went back to normal. "I'm just glad you're alive," she said in a heartfelt voice, then gave him a kiss, which he returned.

"If only I had a camera with me." The two Titans looked to the side and saw their teammates standing nearby, with Beast Boy having been the one to speak up.

"How sweet…" Starfire commented.

"Are you guys okay?" Cyborg inquired.

"I came uncomfortably close to death, but I'll be alright, thanks to Raven."

"What happened?" Robin asked.

"We'll explain tomorrow morning," Raven answered. "For now, I think it'd be better if we all got some rest."

* * *

The next day, the Titans were gathered back at their room in the hotel. Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy explained what had happened from their end, with Beast Boy showing them his bracelet, which had turned into a dark green color. In turn, Raven and Gale told them what they had gone through, with Gale's merged form, and Raven showed them her own bracelet, which had turned black. When it came to the subject of Seth, Gale spoke up, explaining that he'd known him since he was 5 years old, how he would look after him at school, and that he had been like an older brother. "Now I've got another sworn enemy who wants to kill me."

"Don't worry," Robin reassured him. "If he shows up again, we'll be there with you."

"Thanks, guys."

After all this, they got some breakfast, then packed up their things and checked out of the hotel. They made a stop at the Urahara Shop, where they found Ryu, Kisuke and Shelliane sitting in the room at the back. They explained what they'd gone through the previous night, which included telling them about Beast Boy and Raven's newly developed powers, as well as Seth's appearance. Once they were done, they all said goodbye and walked out, with Gale thanking Kisuke for his advice. Their next stop was at the Kurosaki household. There, they thanked Isshin, Rukia, Karin and Yuzu for the time spent with them, and Raven went to return the dress she'd worn the night before, only to be told that it was hers now. Before leaving, Gale took his uncle into the hallway upstairs for a word alone. He revealed what had happened with Seth, and pulled out the shirt he'd been wearing during the attack, showing him the holes the villain's sword had cut into it.

"And to think that you two were like brothers when you were little," Isshin said, surprised to hear this.

"Unfortunately, time didn't change him for the better," Gale pointed out. "And if you ever see him…" The winged boy used his powers to create an illusion showing Isshin what Seth looked like. "Be careful, because he's dangerous, and he has a grudge against me, same with this guy." He then changed the illusion to show Striker. "I trust you'll be able to take care, being a former soul reaper captain."

"How did you know?" Isshin asked, surprised that Gale was aware of his having been a soul reaper captain in the past.

"A spirit named Nebula let it slip. I haven't told Ichigo, figured you'd want to tell him yourself."

"Thanks. And take care, Little Amicus."

* * *

After leaving Ichigo's house behind, the Titans started to head towards the outskirts of Karakura Town, where the T-Ship was stationed. However, they did make a detour towards an abandoned warehouse, where a few friendly elemental spirits had informed Gale that Ichigo was inside. "Are you sure this is the right place?" Beast Boy asked. "Cause I can't sense that there's anyone inside."

"Yes," Gale nodded. "Ventum told me that this was where Ichigo's been for the past few days. Apparently these Visoreds have a forcefield that cloaks their presence."

"I can detect Ichigo's spiritual pressure," Raven said. "It's faint, but it's there."

"Can you guys wait out here? I just want to talk to my cousin for a moment then say goodbye." The others nodded, at which he turned towards Raven, who covered her hands with her powers, and pressed them against an invisible surface. After a moment of concentration, she managed to open up a space in the shield. She and Gale walked into the warehouse until they came across a wide staircase in the floor that went down. They followed the stairs all the way, and arrived into a vast area that looked like a canyon, where they could see a group of people gathered, having apparently sensed them coming.

"What're you doing here?" a gruff, muscular looking guy with short silvery hair spoke up.

"Come now Kensei, no need to be rude," a large, yet soft looking man with short pinkish hair and a moustache reminded him. "However, I am curious as to how you managed to penetrate my force-field without breaking it."

"I'm well versed in magic," Raven answered.

"Well, now that's interesting…" A tall man with long blond hair and a slightly feminine face commented.

"Hey, aren't you guys Raven and Gale from the Teen Titans?" a short girl with a childish face and green hair piped up, at which they both nodded.

"Nice to meet you both," a lanky guy with sandy blond hair addressed them. "Would you mind telling us what brought you here?"

"I came to talk to my cousin Ichigo. A wind spirit told me he was hanging around with you guys." The sound of something crashing into the ground a short distance away, followed by Ichigo letting out a few swear words prompted Gale to turn in this direction. "If you'll excuse me…" He walked towards the noise, and came upon the sight of Ichigo, in his soul reaper form, who was fighting against a short girl with messy blond hair, hollow mask and an apparently violent temper. "Hey, Ichigo!" Gale called out to his cousin.

"Hey, Amicus," he greeted him in return. "What're you-?"

"Pay attention, dumbass!" the hollowfied girl shouted as she charged at Ichigo, zanpakuto held high. Gale raised his hand and conjured a wall of air, which the girl crashed into. "What the hell was that about!?" she exclaimed turning towards the winged boy. "You want a piece of me, bird boy?"

"I'm not here to fight, Hiyori Sarugaki," Gale said, surprising her that he knew her name. "I'm just here to talk to my cousin and say goodbye before I leave."

"We're in the middle of-"

"Leave him be, snagletooth," the lanky blond spoke up, She grumbled in annoyance, but dismissed her hollow mask and walked over to the other visoreds and Raven.

"So, what's up?" Ichigo asked as they both sat down on some rocks. Gale then told Ichigo about what had happened since the fight against the arrancars led by Grimmjow and Striker, as well as the fighting that had happened last night. "That bastard," the orange haired teenager spat out after Gale had finished recounting the news about Seth. "If I ever get my hands on him…"

"He's more likely to go after me, but be careful all the same."

"Don't worry, I'll keep that in mind. I'm glad you're okay, considering all the weird stuff you went through pretty much since you got here."

Gale chuckled a little at this. "I see strange stuff back home every day. Hell, I see weird whenever I look in a mirror. Anyway, it was nice seeing you again."

"Same here. And by the way… you're one lucky guy to get a girlfriend like her."

"Thanks. Goodbye."

The two Titans walked back out of the warehouse in short order, joining up with their friends. They all got back to the T-Ship, piled their stuff inside, hopped into their respective pods, and fired it up. Then, with one last look behind, they started on the journey back home.

* * *

So, if you would please review, that would be much appreciated, even if you leave constructive criticism (not brainless flames, however). the next update will not take as long to finish, however, I won't start working on it until a week, minimum. So, hope this chapter was worth it, and until next time.

And on another note, thanks a lot to AVP5, who gave me some good ideas for this chapter, and helped me come up with some other ones. Also, he created the template for the character Seth, and I just added onto it.


End file.
